The Sigma Files
by Tomcat2612
Summary: A squad of top fighters is assembled to tackle rising cerberus threats around the galaxy, but the team soon realise the enemy is not what it seems. Then again, neither is the team.
1. Arvuna - Firebase Hydra

This was written a long time ago, as one of my first attempts. I held off on publishing it because I wanted to edit the earlier chapters as my writing style developed throughout, but life took over and I lost time to do it, so here is the original version of events. Please leave me a review! Any constructive criticism is welcome at this stage. Thanks for reading!

* * *

Mission 1 – Arvuna

"This place called Firebase Hydra, what do we know about it?" asked Delta.  
"Not much," started Eta, "just that it's s-s-swarming with Cerberus infiltrators, they're after some b-b-blueprints that may or may not have found their way to the F-firebase itself."  
"It's a mining facility, but it's been out of action for months now. ASA believed it was inactive, and then heard about this," Kappa said, "So we're going to sort out any trouble."  
"And to obtain the blueprints," Zeta added.  
"Anything Cerberus gets involved in is usually bad news," Mu said.  
The team were cruising down though the atmosphere. This was their first mission together. All of them were supposed to be the 'Alliance best' singly, as each one had usually operated alone in the past. Recent reports on extensive Cerberus activity had however forced the ASA (Alliance Secret Agency) to form this team to extract information and clear up any mess.  
"Name's Delta, I'm a Sentinel," he wore a sort of gold tinted armour.  
"Kappa, Engineer," was dressed in black armour.  
"Eta, I'm the world's b-best adept!" said a woman who covered her face with a hood that seemed to offer limited protection.  
"Mu, infiltrator," said the only other woman. She wore a white suit of armour, and had a sword strapped to her back.  
"Zeta, I'm the vanguard," replied a man in light-ish blue armour.  
The last one, a tall, bulky and intimidating thing of a man didn't speak.  
"Oh, he doesn't talk much, not at all really, I call him Alpha," said Delta.  
"I'm guessing he's our soldier," Kappa said with a sigh.  
The team reverted to an awkward silence, with nothing else left to say to each other.  
"So, what's with the swords?" Kappa asked, looking at Zeta and Mu.  
Zeta gave him a stare, Mu didn't turn.  
"You'll see," was all he said.  
Turbulence caused them all to look outside the windows, they were nearing.  
"E.T.A 1 minute," said the pilot.  
"Ok guys, here's the plan," started Delta, "I can handle myself against Cerberus, done it before. You guys find some cover and a way inside the base; I'll keep them off your back."  
"You might d-d-die," giggled Eta.  
"You think you can take on a whole squad of Cerberus troops by yourself?" Kappa asked, "You're crazy, kid."  
Delta didn't reply; he looked out of the window and the oncoming facility. The ship quickly decelerated and started spinning around.  
"Well, I'll get started!" Zeta said.  
Before anyone could reply he vanished in a puff of what looked like liquid biotic, and reappeared outside the window, running off.  
"What the hell!" Delta shouted.  
The doors opened and the team jumped down. At once Mu took cover behind some small crates, Eta flexed herself and dark tendril like clouds emerged from somewhere inside of her.  
"That could take some getting used to," Delta said.  
"I'm gonna set up a safe point over there by the crates!" Kappa said.  
Alpha stood there, unfazed and unmoving.  
"Alpha! Get moving, there're Cerberus troops to kill!" Delta said.  
Alpha merely started jogging off the way Zeta had gone earlier, Delta nodded and went a different route, to a small room with a lot of controls in it.  
"I think I've found the main computers," he said over the inter-com.  
No one replied.  
"Fine, I'll look through these later," he said.  
Suddenly a bullet shot straight past his face.  
"Woah!" he stumbled back, turned and saw Mu reload a small handgun. He turned the other way to find a dead Cerberus guard on the floor.  
"Keep your eyes open, rookie," Mu said.  
"I'm not a rookie!" he shouted back.  
Mu however, turned invisible. Almost instantly Delta heard a slash behind him, and another dead guard lay on the ground next to the first, with Mu and her sword standing behind them. She shook her head and moved off.  
Delta picked up his vindicator and shook his head, "Keep it together!" he whispered to himself.

* * *

Zeta turned another corner and found another guard. This one hadn't noticed him yet.  
He tried to sneak up on him, but some twisted fate turned the guard around. Zeta took a deep breath, closed his eyes and charged straight into him; killing him.  
"Flashy move," said a voice behind him.  
He turned to see Eta.  
"Biotic charge takes care of the smaller ones easily enough," he replied.  
She moved her hand and an orb of biotic power flashed past him, into another trooper who had unfortunately stepped into view. He went flying down the stairs.  
"What are we even looking for?" Zeta asked.  
"An upload point, Cerberus has to be using one to get what they want across," replied Kappa over the intercom.  
Zeta nodded and ran off, Eta went the other direction.

* * *

Elsewhere, Kappa placed a small circular object on the floor behind some crates. It opened up and a large pole folded out. The supply pylon sat there and dropped a few thermal clips and grenades. Kappa took out his sniper rifle, loaded up and positioned it where he had a good enough view of the field below him. He could see Eta flashing biotic orbs around and attacking Cerberus troopers. She didn't have a gun, which seemed strange to Kappa, but he reasoned she need not be weighed down. Elsewhere, Mu was flashing her sword around and decapitating the troopers, whilst Delta was slowly following her but was under the floor, in the pipework.  
"Delta! I don't think we're going to find an upload point between too many electrical pipes are we? Too much interference," he hissed.  
"Cerberus is sneaky, if they can afford the time, they will."  
A flash of red light showed he had incinerated a poor trooper.  
Kappa saw a patrol guard on a ledge higher than usual, so he silently shot him off.  
"Found it," said Mu.  
"Rally to Mu!" Kappa said.  
"Oh, are you the leader n-n-now?" Eta asked.  
"We didn't sign up to follow someone, Kappa," Zeta protested.  
Kappa just shook his head and started to make his way down again.  
At the base of the ladder, he was surrounded by 4 troopers and a Centurion.  
"Freeze!" the Centurion ordered.  
"Damn, you got me," Kappa replied, but under the helmet he was smiling.  
He removed his hands from behind his back, in them were four grenades. None had noticed, he looked around and dropped them to the ground.  
"Too bad," he said, and they erupted into life, shocking the Centurion and killing two of the troopers on impact. He rolled around and smashed another with his gun, kicked the other one to the ground before he could react, and riddled the recovering Centurion with bullets.

* * *

Eta popped her head over the metal box and sent flying another throw.  
She was, however, outnumbered. She recovered some strength and sent out an annihilation field, it would slowly eat away at one and jump to the next.  
"This is w-why we b-bring weapons Eta," she said to herself.  
Someone skidded down next to her; Zeta had found his way back.  
"You're trapped too?" he asked.  
"F-first time for everything my d-dear vanguard," she said, almost too happily.  
He tilted is head a little, but then looked around.  
"Well, I guess there's nothing for it," he took out his sword and ran his hand down the blade. It ignited in a biotic smoke; he got up, twisted around and sent out a jet of power that overran everything in front of him.  
Eta jumped over the cover and attacked with throw, causing a biotic explosion that sent the others falling to the ground. Zeta grabbed his Phaeston and finished them off.  
"A Phaeston?" she asked.  
"It's light. Come on, we'd best get back to the others."

* * *

Soon it was only Eta and Zeta to arrive. The others had cleared the area around the currently uploading device.  
"How do we stop this then?" Kappa asked.  
"Shoot it," said Delta.  
"We don't, we redirect it to Alliance, or upload it to our omni-tools," said Zeta as he and Eta ran inside, he looked at Mu, "Can you do it?"  
She nodded and got to work.  
Delta sat down on the ground in a heap and sighed, "I thought it'd be more exciting than this."  
"What do you mean exciting? There's nothing exciting about fighting!" Zeta shouted.  
"Back when I was on assignment as a freelance, I once saved an entire squad from trouble," Delta replied.  
"And yet, you've done nothing but get in trouble today?" Mu asked.  
"It's all about adapting to your environment," Delta said, "I haven't adapted well today, too m-."  
The window suddenly smashed and Cerberus troopers poured in and around them; the team, excluding Alpha, who was nowhere in sight, created a circle, and fought back instantly.  
"Make for the exit!" Kappa shouted.  
"It's not done!" Zeta protested.  
"Everyone, behind me!" Delta said. He had gotten to the exit and had somehow formed a large shield out of his omni-blade.  
Eta threw biotics and Kappa tossed grenades, one aimed directly for the upload point. It exploded and the upload stopped. Mu turned invisible and ran back, got behind the door and resumed shooting. Zeta started blinking in and out of existence, slashing his sword around, but the troops kept coming.  
"Close the door!" Zeta said.  
"But you'll be trapped!" Delta shouted back, he was still holding the shield, protecting the others.  
"Do it!" the flashing vanguard ordered.  
They complied and closed the door; it was a straight path back to the landing sight. As soon as they had closed it, Zeta flashed in existence again.  
"Didn't realise you could teleport _through_ things," Kappa said.  
Zeta was about to reply when they heard a large bang, and screams behind them, over the sound of rapid firing.  
It stopped abruptly and Delta opened the door to find Alpha, with a Typhoon, in the middle of a smoking room surrounded by dead bodies.  
"Let's get out of here," Kappa said.  
"You broke the upload point!" Mu complained.  
"We had to evacuate, and if we'd failed, who knows what they'd have gotten! I knew what I was doing!" Kappa protested.  
"Did you?" Zeta replied, "You acted instinctively and may have lost us the mission. Our objective was to secure whatever data Cerberus wanted, and now, whatever it was has probably been lost."  
"We kept it out of Cerberus hands, that's all that matters kid," Kappa said.  
"Don't call me a kid, what do you think you're some war veteran who knows every nook and cranny of this galaxy?" Zeta said.  
"You're a hot headed one, aren't you? Landing pad's just ahead, we'll wait for evac to pick us up," Kappa said.  
Delta was already there, holding his shield on the ground again, "Don't worry, any Cerberus troops'll have to get through me first."  
Zeta shook his head and got his gun ready, as did the others.  
"We're ready," Mu said on the intercom.  
"You got it?" asked the pilot.  
She looked at Kappa, "Not exactly."

* * *

The team arrived back to headquarters a few hours later. At once, Alpha and Delta strolled away, not waiting for a report. Eta took off too, but Kappa remained to collect his payment.  
"Mission failure, you get nothing," said the payment officer. He tapped a few things on screen and walked to the back of the room, busying himself with other priorities.  
Kappa shook his head and walked away, barging Zeta as he went.  
"Mu, how have you been?" he asked.  
But the woman just looked at him.  
"Look I'm sorry how it ended, I haven't seen you in so long; where'd you go?" he asked.  
"Sorry Zeta, I… can't," she said, and ran off.  
Taken aback, Zeta walked through the crowds of people behind him. All freelancers, looking for work. ASA had supposedly assembled the galaxy's best into one team, but he certainly didn't feel like they'd done a good job today. It would be a few days before their next assignment, assuming none of the team left before that, so he headed home.


	2. Mu

Mu

Based on: N7 Shadow (Infiltrator)

* * *

Data-log entry #1:

My name is Mu. I'm a solo operative. People call me the 'shadow'.  
I know why.  
I've always operated alone; an assassin.  
I take contracts, I kill them, and I get paid. No mix ups, no confusion.  
People see me but they take no notice of me. I'm a white shadow. I blend into the light, and that's what makes me dangerous. People always expect dark, shadowy like figures, and assassinations to occur at nights, this is why I'm successful.  
I don't technically 'live' anywhere. I have very little to carry around with me, besides spare thermal clips and this. I spend my nights cooped up in some dark corner of the rafters overlooking the main hall of ASA.  
My suit has been adapted with a limited invisibility cloak, it's saved my life more times than usual, and it makes getting up here less painful. I can just climb up from the main lobby; no one sees anything.  
Working alone has gotten me accustomed to the dark, the quiet and the isolation. I don't speak to anybody, and nobody bothers me.  
Sure, I take my job seriously. I don't think about who I'm killing, what I'm stopping or what I'm causing, I just take the shot and move on.  
Nothing's gone wrong yet…  
Apart from this one time…

* * *

Data-log entry #2:

First mission in Earth's winter period; it's nice to keep some familiarity with home.  
So, I got another contract today, quite a high paid one; should keep me going through this winter. It's usually quiet around this time. Everyone's with family, not bothering each other.  
This guy called 'Zeta'.  
Apparently he's a… recon soldier, another solo-artist that deals in information. Can get into anywhere within the blink of an eye, not too bad a reputation if you ask me.  
He's also human, and wears light blue armour.  
That's all I'm given… Oh, and he's due to be somewhere on Noveria within the week.  
I've got my transport there and out arranged by the employer, they like to keep it confidential. I'll be sat, hiding out on the base for a week, looking for this guy before returning home victorious.  
Everything was planned up to this point. I get on the ship, fly halfway across the galaxy, and land on this Firebase White.  
So far so good.  
First thing I do, activate my tactical cloak, and survey my area.  
There are guards, Cerberus by the looks of them. I don't want to attract attention before Zeta gets here, so I hide.  
The ship that bought me was already headed for the base, but my employer infiltrated it for me. They'll take what they want, and head off. No questions asked, no one knows I'm here.  
The LZ is cleared eventually, good thing too. My cloak ran out halfway through it.  
The guards all retreat back to their posts, and I'm free to move about.  
First thing, look for a good vantage point, one that's hidden. Over on my right there's a railing, and above that, a little ledge I can slip into.  
With tactical cloak active, I wander over and try to find an easy way up without detection. The coldness of this frozen world batters my bones, but I make it, just as the cloak runs out again.  
With me is a sniper rifle, borrowed, and a small pistol. I should probably invest in my own weapons. This thing's clunky and large, not good for an assassin like me. I get up close; I let them see me before they die.  
So I hold out for two more days, cooped up in this ledge, battered by winds on the first day, and snowed over on the second. My suit has a small heating system, so I stay moderately warm; it wasn't as bad as I thought it was, looking back. Not compared to what was coming.  
Two days, no activity.  
And then, on the third day, I see him; the man who ruined my life.

* * *

Data-log entry #3:

He's wearing his light blue armour, carries light weaponry, and that's about it. He must be a biotic.  
I saw him climbing up the ledge, where I first landed. For someone who can 'get into anywhere' I'm unimpressed so far.  
The guards have, fortunately for Zeta, retreated in for the night. Of course, there're a couple of snipers out on the roofs, but they won't cause him trouble I'm guessing.  
This Zeta guy moves quietly, coming to just beneath where I'm hidden. I grab my pistol, ready to jump down and strike him, when someone shouts.  
A sniper, shouting to his friend he's just recognised.  
Both me and Zeta have frozen solid; but he recovers first. He moves quickly forward, and my silenced hit is missed. I watch him some more, deciding when I can strike, or where to strike.  
He finally reaches the door and starts examining it.  
This is the perfect moment for an assassin. I activate the cloak, fall silently down, and edge my way over to him.  
At first I thought it'd be interesting to see how he'd open the door, and how quickly, can't blame me for being blinded by the guy's reputation.  
All is revealed.  
I stand behind him, raise my gun to his head as he looks up and down the door, even knocks it a few times, and I wait for my cloak to wear off.  
Just as it does, he lunges forward, and disappears, _into_ the door. He's gone. Vanished.  
The job escalated very quickly in that second.  
Swearing under my breath, I look around for a way in.  
But there's nothing, just closed doors, and my hacking abilities aren't up to scratch. This is Cerberus, head of human technology.  
But every structure has a weakness. I decide to go for the pipes that run beneath.  
My cloak takes 11 seconds to recharge, and I activate it again as soon as I can.  
Closest entry point is by the LZ, luckily, it extends to a railed off bit on the path I just came from. I run to it, and throw myself over, catching myself on the other side. Now I'm hanging.  
I've got to move quickly, before the cloak wears off again, so I saddle to the left, to where the pipes come out from the underground.  
Every second wasted is a second he gets further away. With that trick, I wouldn't be surprised if he teleported straight to his destination.  
The hole is small, but I can just squeeze through. This is the worst part of the job, manoeuvring in tight spaces.  
There's talking though the grates above me when I pass under them, but I'm slowly making my way into the base. The space has opened up as well, I can crawl now.  
I have no idea where I'm going though. I have no idea what this guy wants, just that I'm supposed to kill him, or, was supposed to kill him about three minutes ago.  
It's not hard to figure out though. He's an information extractor, which means he'll probably be heading for computers and computers means power. I have to find a power cable, one of many. So I look for the biggest. There's a slightly bigger chance he'll be headed to the main computer room, as that's where most of the information is stored.  
It's a long shot, but I find one and follow it.  
It takes me up a ladder, so I know this is a public place. I've got to keep my guard up now.  
I work my way through tunnels, up corridors and around bends, eventually letting me stop at a grate in the wall. Beyond is the main computer room; not very tight security by Cerberus standards.  
To my relief, he's already there, working on a computer on the far side of the room.  
No stopping me now.

* * *

Data-log entry #4:

Tactical cloak is activated, I remove the grill as silently as I can, and crawl into the room, under the desk.  
It seemed strange at the time, but there was no one else in the room.  
I'm sure he hadn't heard me. I edge over to behind him, place my gun at his head again, and pull the trigger.  
Once again, he disappears…  
… And reappears behind me, kicking the gun out of my hand.  
I block his punch from the right, but he's attacking with the left as well, so I step back.  
Before I know it, he's gone, and ends up on my left with another kick, sending me back the way I had stepped. I try to hit him back, but he's gone, grabs me from behind, and throws me over him.  
It's messy at this point, I don't know what I'm doing or how the hell he's so quick, but one word screams in my head; "adapt".  
I'm lying on the floor, dazed, he's disappeared somewhere I can't see, probably gone to fetch his gun, which he didn't have with him. Strange.  
I turn my cloak on and roll away, under a desk.  
My gun is out of reach, and the cloak's on low power, it hadn't recharged fully after the last use. He comes back into view, and sure enough has his assault rifle.  
He looks around, confused as to where I'd gone.  
"Wanna play it like that?" he asks, and starts flashing in and out of existence again, more rapidly than ever. More rapidly than I can shoot.  
I knew what he was doing, wasting time. He knew the cloak wouldn't last forever; and because technology's a bitch, it doesn't.  
It wears off after seven seconds, and I'm forced to flee. I run to the middle of the room, and it looks like there's three of him, he's teleporting _that_ fast. But for some reason, I know what's coming. I don't know how, but I just know. He teleports behind me, and I bend over, grab him with my legs, and twist him over me, crushing him to the ground.  
So now we're both dazed, his gun has fallen elsewhere, and mine's still not in sight.  
I try and recover as fast as I can, but he grabs my arms and pins me to the ground.  
"Who are you?" he asks.  
I say nothing. I'm too busy thinking how I can beat him.  
This is why you should always carry two light weapons; one to get kicked away, the other to magically appear in your hand at times like this.  
"Tell me," he says, more calmly.  
He's strong, I try to struggle out of his grasp on my arms, but I can't. He's sat over me, so I try and distract him with the arms, and finish off by kicking up with my leg. He jumps up slightly, just enough to allow my knee to reach that one place on a man's body that's a guaranteed knock out.  
He swears and almost flies off.  
Though humorous, I can't laugh. I recast the cloak and look around for a gun.  
"You're good!" he jokes, in pain.  
"I could be crouched over you waiting to twist your neck around, and you're laughing?" I ask.  
"Ah, so you're a woman. Explains how well you know how to get out of holds," he's still on the ground, looking around.  
"I'm supposed to kill you," don't know why I said that, I guess the pressure of losing my first job ever is mounting up.  
"Go figure," he says, and gets up.  
I'm still invisible, looking desperately for a gun. But the cloak wears off.  
I can tell he smiles when he sees me, and charges for me. Just before the first blow hits, he stops, teleports and attacks from my right instead. I'd call it fighting dirty.  
"You need to improvise more," he says from my left, before appearing in front of me and kicking my stomach. I manage to dodge, but miss my hit, losing my balance.  
So I improvise.

* * *

Data-log entry #5:

If he can teleport rapidly, I can equal.  
The cloak is fully recharged; I turn it on, move around, turn it off, and attack when he next lands.  
Lucky it's a direct hit, but before he has a witty comment to say, I disappear again, jump more to the right, and hit him again, after reappearing.  
We continue like this, and I somehow manage to get him against the door.  
Of course, he probably planned this. He teleports through and I'm now trapped inside, alone.  
Suddenly, the door on the other side opens up, and Cerberus troops flood in, guns pointing at me.  
"Freeze!"  
And that's when I thought it was over. Zeta had ruined my job, my career, my reputation. I had failed.  
A lot of things happened at once then.  
The troopers took aimed and fired at me, I closed my eyes as Zeta flashed into existence, grabbed me, and we teleported away.  
Outside, I'm stunned.  
"You saved me?" I eventually ask.  
He just stands there, and nods.  
"I guess I did," he said.  
There's a pause.  
"I couldn't let them kill you; I had to finish you off myself. We both failed our jobs, so now I propose one thing. A fair fight. No teleporting, no invisibility, no guns, just fists and skill," he says.  
For some stupid reason, I nod, and attack him.  
He dodges, attacks back, I dodge, kick his shins, he blocks, and we fight on.  
We've ended up on a large railing outside of the base, linking the front to the back. Around us are nothing but a drop into snowy cliffs and a rail stopping us from falling.  
We fight to about the middle, and that's when both our lives change forever.  
Firebase White explodes. We plunge together into the snow beneath us. And then we fall.

* * *

Data-log entry #6:

Zeta and I finished falling about 5 minutes ago. We've just been sat around, weapon-less, thinking of what to do.  
He's more resourceful than I thought. He's come up with two ice-picks, sword sized, hard as steel, for weapons, but we're not fighting each other. I'm just going along with it so we can get off. I don't really care if he dies. If we make it out alive, I'll kill him then.  
Turns out he's adept with a sword, he's even offered to train me.  
We've both activated distress signals; both our suits are fitted with one.

* * *

Data-log entry #7:

I have to admit, he's quite charming to be around. I've never thought of what may happen if we don't make it off, he's so optimistic. We found an abandoned research shack on what looks like a snow desert.  
We've fought off three attacks from snow beasts so far with our 'ice-swords'. He can somehow infuse biotics into his and power up his attacks. I've tried doing that with some techy stuff, but nothing so far. It's given me something to do, and he said he'd love to see me perfect it.

* * *

Data-log entry #8:

By now, my employers will know I've failed.  
My reputation lies in ruins. First failed job and it's all downhill.  
This Zeta is actually a vanguard, he takes on small missions to extract information and clear up unwanted visitors. He's quite the biotic himself. I never make friends with enemies, but out here, I don't think I'd have lasted this long without him.  
It's been… a month and a bit now?  
We've survived by the edge of our teeth. The distress signal is close to failing, I don't know his plan for after; maybe we'll fight to the death.  
But… I think I wouldn't want to do that. It's probably the utter terror that's getting to me, but, I like him. I think.

* * *

Data-log entry #14:

I've decided to stop these here. Once again, I've assumed isolation.  
All I'm going to say is; we made it off that planet. But I don't plan on seeing him again. Ever.  
I finally bought a weapon as well. It's a sword. A proper sword.


	3. Kappa

Kappa

Based on: N7 Demolisher (Engineer)

* * *

"So, I'm there, cooped up in this hole in the wall, whilst these bloody Krogan underneath me start doing things with each other! I can't take the shot like that! I'd be discovered and killed instantly!" Kappa roared.  
The rest of the bar howled in laughter.  
"Turns out that male wasn't sneaking experimental genophage cures in after all, he was out for this woman," he finished.  
"They're a rare sighting, Krogan females," his friend next to him said.  
"I know! Only one I've ever seen in my travels," Kappa replied. He downed another shot.  
The crowd started to break away, with all the excitement over. Travellers weren't rare on this dock, but Kappa was renowned and usually had great stories to tell.  
The dock was just a small overnight-stay sort of place, travellers from all over the galaxy sought refuge for a drink and a warm place to stay between missions.  
Kappa considered himself a retired gun-for-hire; he spent his days spending his hard earned money in places like this, drinking and watching the local 'entertainment'.  
"Strange how dark-sided politics can get," he grumbled.  
"Everything ok?" asked a Salarian by passer.  
"Rho?" Kappa said, "I haven't seen you in a while."  
When recognition crossed the Salarian's face, he smiled, "You too, old friend!" he said enthusiastically, "what brings you to this damp, rotting corner of the galaxy?"  
"I fancied a change of scenery, yourself?"  
"Business with Al'Huk," said Rho.  
"I'm surprised no one's finished him off yet," Kappa mused.  
"Actually, I'm on my way to do it. My company's been developing high tech-high fall damage protection suits, I'm going to seal a deal to buy out his company, or show the galaxy what pressure does to a guy," Rho said.  
Kappa laughed, "Fake suicide, only a Salarian could get away with it in this day and age."  
"Remember the old days?" Rho asked, "Everyone was much quieter. No one got assigned to kill someone who spread rumours, or took away plans; they just dealt with them by themself."  
"In the olden days, no one dared go against protocol. Galaxy was a much larger and dangerous place," Kappa interjected.  
"You'd know more than anyone," Rho said.  
Kappa just stared silently at his drink. Half empty.  
"What's your story Kappa? Back in those days, you seemed much more… open, strong," Rho asked quietly.  
Kappa turned and looked the Salarian in the eyes.  
"My story?" he asked, "I don't have a story Rho. I have experiences. They've made me into what I am today."  
"You hide behind that helmet, you tell stories as if they were all easy jobs, yet I know everything has a twist. One of those stories changed you, somewhere along the line," Rho said.  
"Damn you Salarian," he laughed, and paused, "It was about five years ago…

* * *

"I was a professional gun-for-hire kinda guy. Eager to get my hands dirty in the filth that was the galaxy back then. But I was different from the rest. You'd see me lined up with Krogan, Turian, even Batarian. They all brought along shotguns, assault rifles; all that heavy-weapon crap.  
Now I'm not saying mine was any lighter, but I was a sniper. Difference was, I was into research as well. Tech stuff, the stuff you're into. I modded my rounds, altered circuits and powered things up. Best tech guy in _that_ business. Everyone else was soldier trained, or very limited with branches of tech and biotics.  
Anyway, they all hated me. I was better than all of them, they knew it, I knew it, but they didn't know why. I was offered more contracts a week than they were a month. The money helped me expand further. No one could track me either, everything about me was hidden. So what did they do? Teamed up and put a price over my head. Anyway, more on that later.  
I get this job one day. Not my usual type of thing, it's from an anonymous source as well, very shady.  
But I accepted; the pay was well above average for something so trivial. I had to secure a cargo-ship onto a docking station. I didn't have to be on the ship, just, at the station so it arrived safely. Obviously my 'anonymous source' had some high valued stuff on it.  
So I goes over, set up and stuff. I'm all set waiting for this cargo-ship to arrive.  
I've positioned myself up on a ledge, got boxes all around me. I'm good to shoot anything that moves before that ship arrives.  
And this assassin falls down behind me! He was a Quarian assassin, in the flesh, well, suit, trying to kill me!  
Of course, them Quarian's are more techy guys, this one pins me to the ground, but he's weak, I easily fight him off.  
I get my pistol, ready to kill him, but he summons this drone that completely takes me out. I almost fly off this ledge, but I got a magnetic upgrade in my suit that keeps me stuck on it, and I crawl away, thinking of how I can escape this guy. Quarian or no Quarian, someone hired him for a reason, so I gotta keep my guard up.  
The Quarian's smart though, he somehow de-magnetizes me. Bloody gadget guy. At this point, I've not got far to land, another railing. But I decide to get out of there and rethink my strategy. Cargo-ship's not due in for another hour or so, so I can get him away and deal with him elsewhere. I'm running through tunnels and he's right on my tail, throwing grenades at me, trying to drop my shields.  
Eventually we get to an opening; we're on a service line in this station. There're vehicles flying all over the place, and a couple of grounded ones. Course, at this point, people have obviously heard and started looking.  
I get in a vehicle and start flying away, but he still chases me.  
It's in that vehicle, I had a revelation.  
No one knew what I'd be doing that day. I keep myself covered, my history safe. Only person who knows was the employer. Bastard had double crossed me. I doubted there even was a cargo-ship at that point. Why he sent the Quarian though was another matter; and one which resolved itself later.  
I suddenly notice other ships joining the chase.  
My 'anonymous source' it seemed, had hired as many people as possible to get me. The Quarian was just the lucky first one to get there.  
Just because I was the best.  
See, in this line of work, we don't like competition. And when someone gets too good for their shoes, they're eliminated to make it fair for everyone, else we'd have war.  
There must be six on me at this point; we're dashing through these side lines, gun fire everywhere! My vehicle takes a few hits, nothing serious, until I notice security's getting involved. But they're just trying to keep the peace.  
I'm trying to shake them all off at once. Now there were some _experienced_ pilots in that crowd. I'm trying some dangerous stuff myself for such a limited room. Up coming's a landing pad, runs straight to the main floor. There's not just merc's here, it's kind of a big port, so I head for cover with the masses. I somehow manage to fly perpendicular through this horde of traffic, take another hit in, semi-crash into a car, which sends me spinning down. Luckily, I land on this platform, get out and run through a cascade of bullets from behind. All I've got with me is a pistol. I quickly load up some e.m.p rounds, and manage to hit something like two out of the now doubled twelve vehicles that crash behind me. Those two fall to the ground. It's ten on one now, plus how many others were trying to kill me on foot.  
Whilst I'm stood there, I take a sniper bullet to the leg.  
Only one thing to do when that happens, try and run away.  
I go crashing through citizens, looking for cover, ducking as the first of my pursuers turn the corner.  
I got nowhere to run except a bar like this one, on my left. I'll have to fight them off or die.  
Don't ask me why I chose a bar; I know it was a stupid decision. But I figured there'd be a lot of people in there to hide in.  
There was, but there were also a lot of people hired to kill me too.  
I limp straight in, find a seat with these Krogan fellow, and a Turian.  
"Busy day?" the Turian asked.  
"You don't know the half of it," by that point I knew they were going to kill me too.  
"Boss said a guy like you's worth money," one of the Krogan said, "He's going to triple pay the one that kills you."  
Money means a lot to hired guns. I can't judge them; I'd have done the same.  
By this point, rest of the pursuers have filled the bar and are looking for me.  
"Better not waist time then, else they'll have their chance," I say. Pain in my leg's unbearable, might I add.  
"Except, no one's going to know exactly who killed me. Everyone else will claim they did, they were all in the same place at the same time. So I suspect this 'boss' won't triple pay any of you," I also say.  
"Good point," the Turian says. He's bluffing though, his hand is twitching.  
I don't know why _they_ stalled like that, maybe thought they were hard. Kinda stupid of them though, I reach down to my leg, the one that's shot, and take some grenades from my belt. Thicko's didn't even notice.  
"It's a shame you've wasted so much time," I start, "You should have just got it over with. Now I'm hurting more in my leg… But, I guess it's nothing to what happens next."  
I load, and drop three grenades on the table.  
Upgraded, might I add.  
You need a shield adaptation to survive this. Sure, I can feel the heat and force of the blast, but my shield's specially designed to withstand it, to about half percent.  
Rest of the bar knows where I am now, but it's already too late for them. I'd tossed my supply into the crowd, each one exploded as soon as it touched something.  
I even shot a couple down in the confusion.  
Before I know it, room's a smoking mess, and I'm the only one alive…"

* * *

"No way did you kill an entire bar with a few grenades, and take no damage yourself," Rho said.  
"Nah, I lied about that bit, my shields went down fully but I'd overturned the table before I took most of it to the face," Kappa replied.  
"So, what happened next?"  
"Well, I get up, feeling like Death, and carefully make my way back. I went up through the service tunnels again though, security were in there within ten minutes. I go to pick up my rifle, turns out there was a cargo-ship there after all, so it kinda makes me wonder whether it was my employers ambush or not, but I'll never know. I was however, shocked to see about eleven dead Cerberus soldiers on the ground. They'd tried to ambush the Cargo-ship, so I'd failed my mission anyway, and took some casualties. What they wanted I'll also never know. But that mission taught me something important. Be the person others want you to be, and you'll stay untouched. I had to change everything about myself after that, and I've never been tracked since. In this line of work, it pays to be good, but it kills to be better," Kappa finished.  
"Well, I suppose that's one way to put it," Rho said.  
"Finished your drink?"  
"I have, shall we?"  
Kappa led the way out of the bar.  
"Any new tech advancements?" Kappa asked, making general talk.  
"Not much. Information suggests someone's close to fusing tech like powers with steel, but I doubt that'll get off any further, my company's on the frontier of research, we're incorporating a lot of new systems into suits that should make environmental hazards less of a problem," Rho described.  
"Any news on a cure for the genophage? I know your people are working on it secretly," Kappa asked.  
"For the last time Kappa, I can't talk to you about that, it's confidential, not even the top Salarian government knows of this work, if it were discovered there'd be a schism," Rho replied.  
"I've got some good Krogan acquaintances Rho, I see the struggle they're going through, you'd better hurry up, whatever you're doing."  
They walked in silence, till Rho reached his ship.  
"It was good to talk again Kappa," he said.  
"Talk? I did all the talking," he laughed.  
"You should come out of this 'retirement' of yours. Galaxy needs hired-guns; believe it or not. If you threaten people enough, soon they'll get the message," Rho said.  
"I don't know. I'm waiting for the right job," Kappa replied.  
"You could go into engineering for a while, it'd be great to have you on my team."  
"Ha! Forget it, get out of here," Kappa asked.  
"See you soon, friend," Rho smiled, and took off.  
When he was just a dark speck in open space, Kappa turned and walked back to his room for the night, he had certain 'entertainment' planned to keep him busy on the trip.  
But Rho's words echoed in his head.

Damn Salarian.


	4. Sanctum - Firebase Glacier

Mission 2 - Sanctum

"Information tells us this Firebase has some sensitive Cerberus information. We want you to infiltrate, and acquire said information; do not fail this time" the voice on the speaker finished.  
"You're sending us into a Cerberus stronghold, expecting us to go in secretly, and hack some information without being seen? Place must be swarming!" Delta complained.  
"This ought to be fun," Zeta remarked.  
The ship entered the atmosphere, and they were instantly buffeted by roaring winds and the ship rocked heavily.  
"Th-this is bumpy!" Eta shouted over the noise.  
"It should only be temporary," Kappa replied.  
"How are we supposed to get in and out without being seen?" Delta asked.  
"Mu has a tactical cloak," Zeta announced.  
Mu didn't seem to notice, she continued staring out of the window.  
"We create a diversion, and let her get in," he finished.  
"No way, it'll be too dangerous for a woman in there alone," Delta said, standing up, "I'll go instead, I can handle things once I get close."  
"Difficulty's gone up boy, we're not talking about a squad, we're talking about a whole base full," Kappa argued.  
"I can do it!" Delta shouted.  
"You couldn't even protect yourself last time, what makes you think you'll be any better this time?" Mu said, speaking for the first time that mission.  
"Can't argue with women, Delta," Zeta laughed, feeling a bit annoyed with Mu's negativity.  
Delta didn't reply, he just sat back down and started fiddling with his Omni-tool.  
Zeta caught Mu looking at him out of the corner of his eye, he turned, but she quickly looked away. He felt a stab of pain, but thought nothing of it.  
"Something going on?" Kappa interjected.  
"None of your business," Mu replied quietly.  
Zeta just shrugged at Kappa.  
"If you're going to have little fall outs and arguments, I'm not staying. We're here to get this information, let's keep things professional shall we?" Kappa said, in a more than mocking voice.  
Neither of them answered, so Kappa sat back and smiled under his helmet.  
"You know, I heard group therapy's supposed to be really good for couples, are you two together?" Delta said loudly.  
He instantly found a sword to his throat, with Mu staring him in the eye.  
"Shut up," was all she said, and moved away.  
"Sorry, I tried to help," Delta replied quietly.  
Eta was giggling to herself in the corner, but stopped as they felt the ship start to decelerate.  
"We're here," Zeta announced; being closest to the window, he could see a large structure built going into a glacier, it had two platforms, but was soon clouded over by the storm.  
"Looks like ASA chose the right day for a sky infiltration," Kappa said.  
"I'm taking you to a position further down, they shouldn't see us land there," the pilot said.  
They landed on a rocky terrain, and soon found a small pathway, rarely used, leading up to the facility. The stairs were steep, but it didn't take them long to ascend to a point where they could see the entrance.  
"Anyone see another way in?" Kappa asked.  
"We could try opening that one," Delta said.  
"Are you stupid? There'll be all manner of security cameras, guards and traps set on that. They'll see us coming a mile off," Kappa hissed.  
"Never done infiltration before have you?" Zeta asked.  
Delta shook his head.  
"Alpha! Get down!" Delta said.  
Alpha had been stood behind them, not bothering to get behind cover. The big man fell like a rock to the ground.  
"I could t-tear that thing away w-with biotics?" Eta announced, "Not v-very secretive, b-but they'll hide f-f-from me."  
No one answered. Mu suddenly pointed to a small window high up, near the top of the facility.  
"Great! I'll go!" Delta said, and started running for more cover.  
"No!" Kappa roared, but it was too late. Alarms suddenly sprung out from nowhere, and the base lit up with flashing lights.  
The door opened up and Cerberus troops swarmed out, the first cascade of bullets hit the rocks they were crouched behind, and they all ducked.  
"You idiot!" Zeta shouted.  
Delta had made it to the other rocks, and fell down, "I'm sorry!"  
"Sorry is not good enough!" Kappa said.  
Suddenly Alpha stood up and took out two typhoons. He opened fire and bullets flashed in every direction as he ran towards the troops.  
"Great, an all-out war, just what we need," Zeta remarked.  
Mu flashed invisible and ran off to where Delta had headed.  
"Kappa, cover my ass," Zeta ordered, he teleported after Alpha and biotic charged straight into the mass of Cerberus troopers.  
Kappa watched as Alpha just ran straight to them, taking down as many as possible, and hardly taking a hit. Zeta on the other hand had buried himself within them, causing confusion, and was flashing in and out of existence, taking many down with his sword. What they couldn't see were the two ATLAS machines just coming out of the base. Kappa swore under his breath.

* * *

Eta had been throwing biotics at the odd one or two troops, causing them to fly up into the air and melt away; she seemed to disturbingly enjoy it.  
Elsewhere, Mu had bypassed the soldiers just in time for her tactical cloak to wear off. She was crouched behind some crates, waiting for it to recharge. In front of her, two Cerberus snipers were trying to pick off Alpha and Zeta. As soon as her cloak recharged, she flashed out of sight and finished them both with her sword. The hardest part was next, getting up to the window.  
She looked around for ways up, but there weren't any easily accessible routes. She decided on one up the glacier on her right, it wasn't well covered, but it was more direct, and she could jump straight off onto the ledge.  
She heard footsteps behind her, and turned to see Delta.  
"What the hell are you doing?" she asked.  
"I'm going with you! It's the plan," he replied.  
"There's no plan!" she shouted, "You've practically ruined this mission already, don't you think you should be helping _them_ fight off Cerberus?"  
A bullet ricocheted off the rail next to them, and they both ducked. Delta looked over and quickly put up his large shield as a rocket exploded into it.  
"That was close!" he said, still holding the shield.  
"Go back, and lure them away from me!" Mu said, "Eta, get over here, quietly."  
"O-on my way," cam the response through the inter-com.  
Delta shook his head and lost the shield, sprinting behind cover.  
It wasn't long before Eta came, black tendrils of smoke following her. She stunk of burning.  
"Do you think you could lift me up to that window?" Mu asked.  
Eta looked at it, "Yeah."  
"Without killing me?"  
"P-probably," was all she said.  
Mu sighed, "I'm activating my cloak, don't be too long."  
She turned invisible, and Eta grabbed her with biotics, and started lifting her up.  
The hold was constricting, but Mu could hold out until her foot reached the ledge, and the cloak wore off yet again. She looked inside the window, and saw no one around, so she got to work opening it.  
"Anyone in there?" said a voice directly behind her.  
Mu turned quickly and pointed her gun at the speaker, who appeared to be Eta. She had somehow lifted herself up.  
"How- Never mind, no, there's not," Mu replied.  
Eta laughed and smashed open the window with a biotic blast.  
They both slipped inside, "We're in," Mu said.  
"Why'd you send Delta back? He's just kneeling with his shield," Zeta complained.  
"We're almost through, this Alpha guy's tougher than I thought, one of the ATLAS's have been taken down," Kappa added.

* * *

Zeta rounded a corner and saw the final ATLAS preparing to shoot at him. He closed his eyes and hurled himself forward, projected by biotics. He felt the rocket fly straight past him, and he crashed into the large machine. It tried to strike down, but Zeta teleported through it and started shooting at its rear whilst he ran behind more cover.  
From afar, Kappa shot at it with his sniper, and Alpha loaded shotgun rounds into its metal structure. Zeta fused biotics into his sword, spun and slashed it away, into the ATLAS, finishing it off.  
Once it had exploded, they were free to enter the facility.  
"Reckon we can get away with this?" Kappa asked Zeta.  
"No idea, but still, it's worth a try," Zeta replied.  
They started running through the halls, twisting deeper and deeper into the facility.  
More than once, they encountered resistance, including another ALTAS.  
Delta fumbled around with his missile launcher whilst the others got to work trying to break its shields. He soon pointed the missile at it and fired. The explosion reverberated through the facility.  
"Really? You wasted it on that?" Kappa asked.  
"Well, now we can get through faster!" Delta pointed out.  
"Next time save it for the way out, there's always heavier resistance," Kappa said.  
ASA provided them with one missile and four medi-gel each.  
"Where are we heading anyway?" Zeta asked.  
"Well, now that the facility knows we're here, we can look everywhere," Kappa replied.  
"I said I'm sorry," Delta interjected.  
"We may not get paid for this, I hope you know," Kappa said, "Infiltration usually means without detection."  
"Why did they send all of us then?" Delta asked.  
"ASA are funding this 'team' project, I suggest you stop questioning their methods before they kick you out," Kappa finished.  
"Noise, up ahead," Zeta announced.  
They slowed to a crouching walk, and waited at the corner for whatever it was passed by.  
After a minute, nothing came, and they looked around. It was clear, yet there were no other passages they could have gone into.  
"Guard up everyone," Zeta said.  
Before they could however, two swords swung into life behind them and struck at Delta and Alpha. The two fell to their knees, and behind them were two Phantoms.  
Alpha tried to turn and punch one, but she swung away and turned invisible. The other one tried to finish off Delta, but Zeta teleported behind her and blocked her sword with his own.  
Kappa tried to fire with his Vindicator, but Zeta and the Phantom started duelling, whilst the other one hadn't shown up yet.  
He felt something strike his shield from behind, and turned to see the Phantom in his face, sword in mid swing.  
He instinctively grabbed her hands and tried to kick her stomach, but she just flipped over him, forcing him to the ground. The Phantom was about to stab him, but she took a shell of rounds from the still grounded Alpha and his Piranha.  
Kappa noticed her barrier broke, and she started bleeding from the arm. At that, she turned invisible and retreated.  
"I've got her!" Delta said and ran after.  
Kappa couldn't stop him, he was faster than he appeared to be, and stormed through the tunnel behind her.  
Zeta was still duelling, the two locked in a spinning fight. The Phantom turned invisible, but Zeta teleported behind her, knocking the air, or what was her head, with the butt of his sword.  
He took a bullet to the arm from her hidden gun, and she flashed back to existence. Zeta barely blocked the sword blow with his weaker arm carrying the sword.  
Kappa still couldn't get a good shot to help him, and Alpha tried diving on the Phantom, but she manoeuvred away. It gave Zeta a fighting chance, he biotic charged into her, knocking her back a few steps, teleported behind her, and stabbed her through with his sword.  
They stood in the hall, breathing heavily.  
"How's your arm?" Kappa asked.  
"Shot, buried itself straight in it, but it's nothing serious," Zeta replied.  
"Medi-gel up?" Kappa suggested.  
Zeta shook his head, "I can still move, I'm saving them. Where's Delta?"  
They heard a cry through the intercom, "Guys! I'm down!"  
Kappa cursed and started to move down the hall Delta had gone, but Zeta put up his hand.  
"I'll go, you two get to Mu and Eta, make sure they complete the hack and get out of here, don't worry about us," Zeta said, and flashed away.  
Kappa looked at Alpha and nodded, "Follow me."

* * *

"This must be it," Mu said, tapping lightly on a heavy door.  
Eta flashed out of existence, and within the minute, the door opened.  
"You can teleport too?" Mu asked.  
Eta nodded, and the two moved into the room. It was strangely cold, but no windows or ventilation appeared present.  
They only needed one to find what they were looking for however, ASA had uploaded files onto their Omni-tools, and Mu set out to work.  
"Once the hack starts, they'll know what we're doing, and where we are, get ready to fight," Mu said.  
Something clicked on the console, and Mu's Omni-tool flashed, the hack had started.  
"Here we go."  
Alarms sounded around the tunnels again, and the sound of running feet came from every direction.

* * *

Kappa stopped Alpha and the two hid in small gaps within the tunnel walls. A small squad of troops ran past without noticing them.  
"I guess we follow them," Kappa said.  
They started running, keeping a safe distance. Alpha retrieved his Typhoon from his back, Kappa claimed some grenades, and they soon found where the commotion was centred.  
A small room, littered with consoles, housed Mu and Eta as they fought against the oncoming waves of Cerberus troopers.  
When Kappa and Alpha took out the ones they were following, they crouched down where Mu and Eta were positioned. Kappa unloaded his supply pylon.  
"Why's my Omni-tool flashing?" Kappa asked.  
"I set it as an area hack, the more Omni-tools there are, the faster it'll go," Mu replied.  
Kappa nodded and started firing the Vindicator at troops who arrived next. They were crouched in a corner; behind them were large planes of glass, showing an almost outside section with numerous large boxes.  
"Where's Zeta and Delta?" Mu asked.  
"Delta ran off again and got taken down by a Phantom, Zeta's gone to get him," Kappa explained.  
"Ooh, sword f-fights! Exciting," Eta remarked, "I'm going to lead them off over there!"  
She suddenly got up, threw biotics and ran away.  
"No!" Kappa roared, but she had already teleported.  
"Every man for himself," Mu said to herself. She fired and killed another trooper.  
Two combat engineers entered the rooms and hastily set up turrets behind cover; they couldn't shoot at them. Mu was forced to duck or be riddled with bullets.  
"Hack's at 25%," she told them.

* * *

Zeta flashed behind another trooper and ran him through with his sword.  
He was getting close to Delta now; the soldier was around the next corridor. What worried him was getting back.  
He almost laughed when another trooper turned the corner, allowing him to activate a biotic charge and clear the lengthy corridor in a tenth of the time. However, he was met with a sword to the shield, as the Phantom showed herself.  
Flying backwards, Zeta crashed into the floor, his shield broken.  
The Phantom moved to finish him off, and he barely dodged with his weak arm.  
He activated another charge, letting the Phantom fall back, momentarily stunned.  
Zeta used this to run around the corner, to find Delta lying of the ground.  
"Get up!" he shouted, and helped him get to his feet.  
It appeared his leg was broken, or stabbed, he had trouble standing.  
The Phantom was already running to them, shooting at them.  
Delta operated his shield and fell behind it, absorbing the damage.  
Zeta decided he'd better use a Medi-gel, and felt his arm stop bleeding instantly as the bullet fell out and the wound closed. He cracked his knuckles and slashed out his sword.  
"Zeta, get behind me, I can protect you!" Delta shouted, though he could barely move.  
"I can take her," Zeta said, and charged into the Phantom again.  
As she fell back, Zeta teleported away from her counter and gun strike, prepared himself, and charged again, teleported back, waited, charged, teleported, waited, charged, and soon the Phantom was left lifeless on the ground, and Zeta fell to the ground, exhausted.  
"We… need to… move," he said.  
"Use another Medi-gel," Delta said as he crawled next to him.  
"No, no need… Come on!" with a sudden energy burst, Zeta jumped back up, and grabbed Delta.  
They started running back down the tunnel, trying to find their way to the others.

* * *

Eta warped a Centurion, but it didn't disrupt his shields that much.  
She was exposed, with nowhere to hide. The Centurion in front of her kept her distracted, so she didn't notice the combat engineer frantically trying to up a turret behind her.  
"This is w-w-why we bring g-guns Eta," she said to herself, her biotic exploits had tired her out, and she was struggling to throw as many.  
It didn't stop her trying, she let out an annihilation field that stuck to the Centurion, and started hurtling throws, that shook her to her knees. The Centurion was ripped apart, but Eta didn't have time to laugh, she turned and saw a turret staring her in the face.  
"She's down," Kappa said.  
Mu swore, and Kappa jumped over the console, throwing grenades at the troopers shooting at him, and went off running for Eta.  
Alpha had walked into another room, out of the range of the hack area, which was now at 32%.  
Mu surveyed the scene in front of her; troopers were closing in, fast. She couldn't fight them all off by herself.  
"Alpha, get back in here," she said, but she didn't know how far he had gone, and how long it would take him to get back.  
She shot at one of the troopers, killed him, and crouched back again, her shields almost broken.  
"Damn it," she muttered.  
She activated the cloak, and ran out unnoticed, looked at how many more incoming troopers there were, and doubled back, running for Kappa; giving up on the hack.  
Kappa dived down behind a console when he noticed the turret. Eta lay not too far away forwards, but was out in the open. It would take him too long to redeploy a supply turret, so he exhausted his supply of grenades and threw them all at the turret.  
It finally exploded out of life, and he rushed over to Eta.  
"Come on Eta, no dying today!" he said.  
She struggled, but couldn't carry herself.  
He looked and saw the combat engineer still alive, rigging up another turret. Kappa thought it was over at this point, until Mu revealed herself behind the engineer and silenced him with her sword.  
"It's over Kappa, we can't survive this," she said, "Cerberus has us surrounded. I say we go out into that area outside and call for evac."  
He didn't have time to think, Kappa just picked up Eta over his shoulder and nodded, following her lead.  
"Everyone, we're calling for evac, make your way to our beacon," Kappa said to the intercom.  
"We'll never make it, can you pick us up?" Zeta replied.  
"Get to the entrance, pilot can pick you up from there," Mu replied.  
They reached the outside and called for the pilot. Although it wasn't technically outside, it was in a tunnel within the glacier that could easily accommodate a ship. The pilot responded and made his way to evacuate them.  
It wasn't long before Alpha came out of a tunnel on the right, splattered with blood, and still shooting behind him.  
"Hold the position everyone, he's coming," Kappa said.

* * *

Zeta and Delta limped on through the tunnel, eventually finding their way back to where they had originally split up from. The tunnels had been strangely quiet so far.  
They also hadn't heard anything from the others since they were told to get to the entrance.  
Zeta regularly looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Phantoms following them, but once again, there was nothing. The entrance wasn't too far away, but when they got within sight of it, they discovered why it had been quiet.  
There were turrets, troopers, Centurions, Engineers, ATLAS's and a few Phantoms guarding their exit.  
Zeta quickly moved back, "Damn, we're not going to get through. My rocket won't take all of them out."  
"What do you mean? We can't stay here," Delta replied.  
"Why'd you do it Delta? You ran off twice, almost died twice, what are you trying to prove?" Zeta asked.  
Delta looked down, "I just want to show you I'm not an idiot. I want to prove myself. You and Alpha took out that entire platoon by yourselves, Kappa seems so cold and strong, I just wanted to show you I'm no push over."  
"Fighting's not the way to show us anything Delta. Back there, you could have let the Phantom go, we weren't aiming to kill her, we were aiming to defend ourselves, and that's what fighting's all about," Zeta said, "You'd have proven yourself a worthy ally if you'd stayed and helped us all out. Now, I don't know if we got the information, but we're all split up, and vulnerable," he looked away, "That's what's wrong with this team, no one works together."  
"I'll try harder next time," Delta muttered.  
"I'd be very impressed if you could figure a way out of this," Zeta added.  
Delta nodded and struggled to get himself up.  
"I'm a sentinel, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve," he said.  
Zeta also stood up, "Can you hear me?"  
"Just about," replied the very blurry voice of Kappa.  
"We're going to charge for the opening, there's heavy resistance, so we'll need to time it right. We also need a distraction, get them to turn around, and we'll start running," Delta said.  
Within a minute, they heard the sounds of fighting; Zeta looked around and nodded to Delta. Most of the force had been turned by the ship, from which Mu, Alpha and Kappa were firing.  
"Run," Zeta said.  
Together, they limped onwards, breaching the line of Cerberus.  
"I'm gone in twenty seconds!" the pilot shouted.  
Troopers started turning their fire on Zeta and Delta.  
Zeta had no more energy for teleporting, focussing on running only, trying to dodge bullets. His shield was battered, as was Delta's.

* * *

"They're not going to make it," Kappa said.  
Delta was limping hard, almost being pulled along by Zeta, the two jumped over blasts at their feet, ducked when they heard bullets whiz past their heads, and stormed on.  
Two ATLAS's suddenly turned their attention to the fleeing soldiers. They aimed, and fired rockets. Direct hit.  
"No!" Mu shouted from where she watched. She quickly turned invisible, jumped out of the ship and started running to where Zeta had landed.  
"Damn it, hold the ship pilot!" Kappa shouted, and jumped down after her, Alpha following.  
"Ten seconds!" the pilot replied.  
Mu reached Zeta, he wasn't dead yet.  
"Delta!" she shouted.  
Delta was still conscious, he finally got to his feet, and ran over to her.  
"Help me!" she cried, and they grabbed the vanguard's arms and dragged him beyond Kappa and Alpha, who were holding the line.  
"Hurry!" Kappa shouted.  
The ship lowered, and they practically threw Zeta in. But Delta wasn't finished, he saw Kappa and Alpha being overcome, and ran back to where they were. He forced his shield into existence.  
"Get behind me!" he ordered.  
The two complied, and slowly they started moving back towards the ship.  
"Five seconds!" the pilot roared, "I'm going without you!"  
Just when they thought they'd never make it, Kappa and Delta felt themselves being picked up, and Alpha threw them into the ship, jumping in after them.  
"Go!" Kappa roared from the ground, and the ship, whilst being pelted with bullets and rockets, started turning, and flew away…

* * *

What felt like days later, they were back in ASA's protection.  
Zeta and Eta had been rushed to the medical clinic, but were expected to recover. Delta had been led away later, and Alpha went with him. It was just Kappa and Mu.  
"This is an unfortunate turn of events," said the chief of their operation.  
"We failed to complete the hack," Mu added.  
The chief looked at them both, "This mission wasn't a failure, it was a disaster. You six are a disgrace, I put hours into researching the 'best of the best' and I get a few renegades who don't know the difference between a quiet investigation and all-out war," he shouted.  
Kappa and Mu didn't reply.  
"Get out of my sight, your next assignment will be here when your friends recover. We've wasted money forming this project, this is your last chance; we signed you up for three missions. I'd put my money on you lot not having a future after this anyway, dismissed!"


	5. Eta

Eta

Based on N7 Fury (Adept)

* * *

"Back so soon?" Iota asked.  
Eta sat down quickly in the chair in front of the Turian, "It h-hurts," she complained.  
"I'm not surprised, there's still a lot of damage left untouched," he got out of his seat and walked over to her, lifting her chin up with his hands, "you're leaking biotic residue again by the looks of it."  
Iota, the Turian doctor who helped her get through this mess, grabbed a clipboard from the desk and started flicking through the pages, checking things with a pen. He picked up a hologram and snapped a picture of her face, still hidden by the hood.  
"The hood's gonna have to come off for a bit, do you want a pain killer before we start?" he asked.  
"Y-yes," she replied.  
"Stutter's not getting any better, how's you sense of smell doing?"  
"S-still smells like b-burning."  
"Everywhere?"  
She nodded.  
He sighed and injected her arm, she almost went limp immediately, but not before he could lead her to the bed and lay her down.  
Iota began the usual procedure, first wiping away the slimy biotic residue and then carefully removing the hood and mask that guarded the remains of Eta's face. She screamed a few times, loud and anguished, but once it was off, he could begin clearing things up further.  
"Tell me the story again whilst I do this, I'll see if I've missed anything."

* * *

Five years ago…  
"Morning sweetie," said a shy voice.  
Eta opened her eyes to see Phi hovering over her bed, breakfast in his hands.  
"See? Even in an experimental biotic reactor, one can get breakfast in bed," Phi said, smiling.  
"You shouldn't have," Eta replied, she stretched, "What's the occasion?"  
"No occasion, we've been assigned to this reactor for three years now, and I've never once made you breakfast in bed. I was also scared you were losing interest in me," he added.  
"Losing interest? Never," she giggled, "what time is it?"  
He flushed, "Ah yes, I had to wake you earlier so you could eat it, sorry."  
He handed her the tray, "It's two hours before shift starts."  
"Three years," she mumbled, spooning some porridge into her mouth, "Never thought I'd spend three years of my life working on something as big as this."  
Phi sat at the foot of the bed, "I know, and who knows how much longer we'll be here! Just think though, when we're done, we'll have perfected a whole new energy source!"  
"I love your enthusiasm," she said, "Don't you want to get off this place though? We've been here since… forever."  
Something flashed across his eyes, "I… would. A lot actually. We could go home, finally get married. Maybe even start a family."  
"You've been thinking about this," she noticed.  
He just smiled at her, and she resumed eating.  
"Dr Farse, please report to section C3, thank you," said a voice over the built-in speaker.  
Phi laughed, "Typical, better go. Enjoy your food."  
Eta watched her soon-to-be-husband leave; smiling at the thoughts he had placed in her mind.  
Of course, she couldn't think of them yet, there were still months of work to do before they got any closer to perfecting biotic energy sources. She shrugged the thoughts out of her head for the present, and prepared for the day ahead.  
Eta was not one of the scientists; she was a guard, hired by the company along with many others. In the past Eta had been working with the Alliance on biotic weaponry, and in between jobs, she was a freelance guardian.  
This was an Alliance funded project as well; biotic energy would hopefully be the future for new systems of humans. The idea was you could charge up a device, what they were working on, which then could store or release amounts of this energy throughout the day. One could charge it up in the morning, and it would stay active through the night till the next morning, to be recharged again. Or something akin to that.  
As she wandered down the corridors, doing her rounds, her mind wandered to just when the scientists would complete the project, and she'd be free to return home with Phi.  
Looking outside the windows, the world beyond the reactor was quiet and tranquil, despite its stormy nature. For most of every day they were battered by high winds, flashes and cracks of lightning, and hail the size of footballs. Today was an eerily calm day, where the forever black mass of cloud was still. Patient.  
It was from this point she saw a ship break through the layer of cloud. It wasn't an Alliance ship; it was larger, bulkier, and more 'mechanical'.  
Before she could react, the alarms started flashing, and life in the reactor jumped into existence. Corridors filled up with soldiers, the doors went into automatic lock-down. Eta calculated where the ship was headed, and began running through the corridors.  
The ship thundered just over her head, above the corridor she was in; it was heading for the main docking bay.  
Shouts were coming from everywhere, as men took their weapons and loaded them up. She joined her fellow hired guards as they ran to the landing zone.  
The guards were comprised of many classes and specialities. Eta was the main Adept of the group; she packed lightly, holding only one pistol. She barely knew any of the other guards by name, as it was always best to keep things like that a secret. However she did know Theta, an Asari adept, who was practically her subordinate.  
They looked at each other, and she saw Theta's eyes contained a notion of fear. When they were stood waiting, Eta placed her hand to steady her Asari friend.  
"It'll be fine, any trouble, you get out of here," she said.  
"I fight to the death, like you do," Theta replied.  
"Remember the shock tactic, run in, get your sphere up early and run out before they have chance to realise you're there," Eta said.  
Theta nodded. They worked well together as Adepts, able to utilize each other's powers better than any other of the biotics in the group.  
Whatever was outside was causing a commotion, as the sounds of battle rattled through the walls. The biotic reactors first line of defence slowly fell, and Eta felt herself get nervous. Whatever was coming through would be tough; they had soldiers and vanguards positioned outside, as well as a few infiltrators.  
Loud bangs clashed with the solid metal door that protected them from the outside world. Each one felt like it was being attacked with a nuke.  
"I know that sound," said an Engineer, "That's a siege pulse! It's the Geth!"  
Murmurs of alarm and confusion spread throughout the group, but it was soon stopped when the door blasted open.  
At once Theta was gone, sprinting outside, and a large blue biotic bubble flashed into existence. Eta began throwing pulses of power into the sphere, hoping to catch something before the smoke and rubble cleared.  
Others were now climbing out to join the fight. But the Geth were also climbing in.  
A few rockets hit and took out members of the guard. Eta just jumped out of the way of one. She sent a shockwave forward, and felt it explode on contact with Geth affected by Theta's Biotic Sphere.  
So far, Theta had not returned.  
The smoke cleared somewhat, and she saw the outside filled with a small army of the robots.  
Cursing, she looked around for her Asari friend, whilst still throwing biotics.  
She was distracted, and was hit square in the chest by a Prime's canon, her shields shattering like they were paper, and she fell to the ground.

* * *

The world slowly stopped spinning, and she saw a blue hand above her head.  
"Come on, Eta!" Theta shouted.  
"How long have I been out?" she asked.  
"Long enough, they've breached the facility, a retreat's been ordered, but there's something we need to do, hurry!"  
She got up painfully, and applied a medi-gel to herself. Her hand was burning, but that was from using the biotics.  
"What are we doing?" she asked.  
"The general wants to see us," Theta replied. They wound their way around the corridors again, running into a room where the noise of battle could still be heard.  
"Oh thank goodness, you found her," the general said.  
"What's going on general?" Eta asked.  
"We need you to retrieve an object and get it out. This is a priority," she said.  
"What's the object?" Theta asked.  
"That's… top secret. All I can tell you is that, there's more going on here than experimental biotics. The object's in D2, you'll know it when you find it. Please hurry, if this object falls into Geth hands… I don't want to think of how they'd use it," the general finished.  
"General, have you heard from Phi Farse at all? He's an engineer," Eta asked.  
"We've had two escape ships leave, but no names. A group of people are stranded on C3, we're trying to get them out," she replied.  
Eta's heart flipped. That was where Phi was stationed.  
"I have to go help them," she said.  
The general shook her head, "There's no time, this object, at this time, is the most important thing in the galaxy, it _has_ to be kept safe and evacuated."  
"What's it doing here then?" Theta asked.  
The general gave up, "We were hiding it. I'm not saying anything else, you have your orders."  
They couldn't argue, not at a time like this. Eta and Theta nodded and started running towards the main stairwell, but found it guarded by Geth.  
"What do we do?" Theta asked.  
"There's a ladder system in the pipelines that can go between places, we'll use that, there's a vent close by," Eta replied.  
They silently made their way past more Geth guards, and found the vent.  
"They really don't want us to go in there," Theta observed.  
"Why are the Geth interested in a biotic reactor anyway?" Eta wondered.  
"Maybe they're after this object," Theta suggested.  
Shrugging, Eta jumped down into the first sub-level of the facility, Theta close on her heels.  
They found the ladder and began climbing down, avoiding pipes and vents along the way. Eta stopped above a vent which led to C3.  
"Eta, we have orders," Theta said.  
Eta started to move, but stopped again, "Sorry Theta, I have to. He's the only life I've got outside of this place. Get to the object, I'll meet you halfway."  
"What if you d-"  
But Eta already kicked through the vent and fell into the corridor on the other side.  
Theta swore, but she did not follow. She resumed the journey down to D3; alone.

* * *

The corridor contained a few Geth soldiers and rocket troopers. Eta had taken them by surprise, and she was quick to use this to her advantage. Sending a shockwave in one direction, she buffeted the other with a hail of biotic rain.  
The Geth from behind began shooting at her, and she dodged behind a large crate whilst still focussing on the ones before her. Sending another shockwave to them, they all exploded. She ran out of the crate, and lashed at the remaining troopers, finishing them easily, her hands burning again.  
She ran towards where Phi would be, in the main biotic reactor; trying not to think about Theta. There was strangely little opposition, but most Geth were in the reactor, doing something to the computers. She felt like she should stop them, but her heart pushed her forwards.  
Almost too far, around another bend she stopped dead, as before her was a Prime; the Prime that had knocked her out earlier. It was surrounded by bodies, all dead. The Geth had made their way into the reactor.  
In the Prime's hand, being held above the ground was Phi. Both turned to look at her.  
"Eta! Get out of here!" Phi said, though struggled.  
But she couldn't move, couldn't run, couldn't attack. All her training hadn't prepared her for this.  
"Strong biotic detected," the Prime said in a mechanical voice.  
It sent a blue bolt straight through Phi, killing him instantly, and dropped him to the floor, like he was nothing.  
Eta could only watch as Phi, the man she would marry, dropped silently to the ground. His eyes open but dead. Her heart fell with him, slowly, and as his skull cracked on the hard floor surface, so did her heart. Eta became furious.  
Her biotics overcame her thoughts and instincts; she filled herself up, glowing, glaring blue, feeling the heat course and burn through her very body, ripping open her flesh. Before she could cry, she exploded.  
A force that sent the prime to the ground, flying away, and she struck harder, throwing everything she had at it, biotics exploding everywhere on its body. She felt its shield's break, its armour crack, but she continued. The Prime slowly staggered to its feet, and tried to fire at her, but she moved through space faster than its machinery could comprehend. Within seconds, it was a smoking black corpse of rusted metal and ash.  
She used the biotics to sense around her, like long tendrils that touched every corner and crack in the wall, feeling for some hint of life, but there was nothing. She could only stand, burning, trying to regain control of the biotic power ripping through her arms and legs. Her hair was scorched dry and stood on end, black biotics lapping from it like it was antenna.  
Eta finally fell to the ground, on top of Phi's body, which had suffered under the heat of her biotics. She tried to look into his charred face, to see his eyes, but they had been burned away.  
Her hands hurriedly traced the unfamiliar features, trying to see him one more time, trying to picture his face under the blackened skin, but her mind was dazed and she couldn't recall it.  
"I have to see it," she said quietly, with a horse voice, "I need to see you!"  
Her body, though stable again, felt like it was on fire. Every trace she made with her finger took lumps of flesh off Phi's face, she was ruining it, but she couldn't help herself. She had to find the outline; she just wanted one more look.  
But she couldn't. She couldn't know if he'd died happy to see her, or in pain from the pulse siege that had burned quickly through his stomach. She regained control of the biotic mess inside of her, and cried. No tears fell, they only evaporated; she just sat, weeping.  
It wasn't long before noises interrupted her.  
"Excuse me, are you alright?" a voice said.  
Eta looked up slowly to see five scared looking people eyeing her.  
"Do you know how we can get out?" another said.  
They must be the remains of the trapped engineers, Eta thought.  
"Eta!" a new voice broke the solitude, and Eta recognised Theta running towards her.  
"I have the object from D3, I came here to see if you were alright, you never showed up, what's that smell?" Theta asked, then she took in the scene, and realised what had happened.  
"Not Phi," Theta murmured.  
Her friend came down and hugged her around the shoulders, "I'm so sorry Eta."  
They sat there for a while, the crowd of people hanging around, wondering if they'd ever see their escape.  
"Come on Eta, we can't stay here," Theta suddenly said, "We have to get these people out."  
Eta new she was right, it was her job. It was always her job. No matter what had happened to her, she had to guard others. She got to her feet.  
"A cargo ship has just arrived, it'll be in hanger B6, all the rest have gone," she announced.  
The people looked hopefully at her.  
"Follow us," Theta finished.  
Eta looked at the object Theta had retrieved; it was an incredibly large, sealed box, taller than her, and wider.  
"Had to carry it with biotics, could really use some help though," Theta joked.  
But Eta didn't respond. She didn't feel like she had anymore biotic power left in her.  
Theta acquired the help of some of the engineers, and they started moving through the tunnels for one last time.  
"There were no Geth down in D3," Theta started, "They must have all been in the biotic labs."  
It confused Eta, but she didn't dwell on it. She had left Phi behind; staying any longer would have made it too hard to leave.

* * *

The rest of the walk was silent and uninterrupted, the Geth must have been very pre-occupied, until a dreadful thought suddenly hit Eta, and she broke into a run.  
"Hurry!" she shouted.  
"What's going on?" Theta asked.  
"I'll explain when we get there, you'll have to take on any opposition, I haven't the strength in me," Eta said.  
Around one corner, they did see a pair of Geth troopers, which Theta quickly silenced. Soon though, they were loading the final cargo ship in B6. The object went on first and was laid across the ground. The cargo ship wasn't from the facility, and had arrived specifically for the purpose of retrieving the object. A Sentinel helped them load up, and followed the passengers on board.  
Eta didn't step on.  
"What are you doing?" Theta asked.  
"The Geth weren't here for the object Theta. They were here for the reactors. They're doing something with biotics," Eta said.  
"So?"  
"The Geth want that biotic power, Theta, I can't let that happen, I'm going back, I'm going to absorb all the biotic energy, and I'm going to take this place and every Geth in it down with me," Eta said.  
"But, you can't die!"  
"Fine, then I go with you into a world that has nothing for me anymore. Theta, you're my closest friend, but I'm going no further. Someone has to stop these Geth. This is the last job I have to do. It's always about the job," Eta said.  
"We have to go," the Sentinel announced.  
"Go Theta; look after these people," Eta said, she grabbed the Asari's wrist, "Have a good life."  
"Eta," she started, "Thank you. For everything."  
Eta tried to smile, she took one last look at the last organic life form she would see, and turned and ran.

* * *

The largest biotic reactor was on C3, where Phi had been working on. It linked to all the others, so she could absorb all the energy this place held. The Geth had moved out of it and were focussing on some other area of the reactor now, all was quiet.  
She stepped into the room, and could almost feel the biotic strength vibrating through it. It seemed to wrap around her, envelope itself on her arms and legs, she was almost pulled to the centre. She used a little bit to create a barrier, in case any Geth arrived.  
The cargo ship would be gone now, flying through the clouds. She didn't know how big this blast would be, so she counted to ten before she started absorbing.  
At first, she felt enlightened, as the biotics flowed into her, healing her body, she felt her strength returning, but soon it became overwhelming. Her capacity overflowed, but she held on tight. As more and more biotics rushed, she emptied the first chamber. Soon she didn't even need to absorb it, it was all just flowing to her, and she felt it leaking through her skin, escaping down her nose, eyes, mouth. Her body was being burned from the inside, but she could no longer stop it, it accelerated, the reactors flashing as the biotics rushed out faster than they could handle. The Geth stopped what they were doing to figure out what was going on.

* * *

I screamed, and I s-s-screamed again, my head s-seemed to explode, m-my throat dried up, and as the last tendrils of b-biotics charged into m-me, I-I let it all go.  
"W-when I woke up, t-t-they told me the facility h-had been reduced to a-ash," Eta finished.  
"Fascinating," Iota said, "I remember hearing the story. So, someone found you, pulled you out and tried to fix you up?"  
"Y-yeah," Eta said, "It w-was five m-months till they f-found me. I f-finished the j-job, no G-Geth got out."  
"And now, you have extraordinary biotic powers," Iota said, "Well, I can't see anything I missed."  
"I d-don't want to b-be healed," Eta said, "The p-pain keeps me strong."  
She sat up, and reapplied her mask, wincing as it touched her skin. She put her hood up, and began walking to the door.  
"Same time next month," Iota said, "Those biotics fried parts of your brain, so I'd like to look into some psychotherapy for you."  
Eta nodded, and walked out of the office door. The world was empty for her. She hadn't thought about the whereabouts of Theta since the incident, or Phi. She tried to carry on in the world as she always had. Taking jobs. Getting paid. It was forever changing for her. But one thing remained constant, the world smelled like burning. It was always burning.


	6. Delta

Delta

Based on N7 Paladin (Sentinel)

* * *

Delta's patrol ship flew through space close to the speed of light. If he deactivated the allowance mechanism, his body would grow to at least 500x its current mass, not something he wanted to try, but it was always good to keep in mind.  
He was in orbit around a planet, awaiting his next mission. His 'ship' was small, a one-seated jet with a compartment behind the main control desk for sleeping and eating. The rest was machinery.  
Being a Sentinel, he was used to the workings of various tech pieces, though his knowledge was more 'basic-all-round', and better suited for combat than spatial flight. However, he had adapted various parts of the ship, and it now presented a homely feel to him. It was like a second home, away from the permanent residence he held at ASA.  
Waiting for missions seemed to take up the most part of his day. He was an escort by trade, "a delivery boy", the Batarians mocked. As a human, despite ASA being human in origin, he was among the least popular species for work like this. The favourites were Batarians, their brute-ness earned them fame and fortune. Krogan were surprisingly rare, tending to stay to their own colonies and organisations, whilst Turians were there by council demand. A few Asari appeared every now and then, but it was mainly for the guns that didn't get the hits big enough to be Citadel standard, in Delta's opinion.  
Humans, Drell, Salarians and even Vorcha were the least popular, due to biological weakness, race weakness, and other factors.  
Customers wanted their work done efficiently and quickly, no messing around and no complications.  
A flash of the monitor broke his trail of thoughts, a flagged assignment, priority 1, opened before his eyes.  
A highly secretive escort mission needed to be done, with generous pay, and he was the closest person to it. He'd have to pick up a ship more suited to his needs on route, a cargo ship, but he breathed a sigh of relief under his helmet. He would hopefully be eating again soon.

* * *

3 Hours later

The cargo ship tore through the atmosphere at terrifying speeds. The best he could manage was a large, powerful cruiser. The email had been specific about the nature of the package he was to secure. It needed guarding with his life. Pretty simple.  
He slammed the breaks and felt the heavy cruiser protest almost immediately, a large groan rippling through it.  
Delta felt he could get to grips with different vessels pretty quickly, being quite the pilot himself. It was just his luck that the facility he had to secure the package from was under attack. He'd discovered a distress signal en route and had had to double time it.  
The ship pulled into a steep curve, it's back end flying outwards as he levelled it neatly into the hangar, a few bumps but speed was of the essence, no harm done.  
The hatch opened allowing him entry into the facility. He held his gun ready but only found a crowd of injured awaiting him.  
"What's going on here?" he asked an official looking soldier.  
"We were attacked by Geth forces about two hours ago; these are all scientists and engineers who work here, they aren't soldiers, we have to evacuate them," the soldier said.  
"How many injured?" Delta asked, looking over them.  
"Quite a few, no gun wounds, just explosion. I don't think any are serious," he replied.  
"This isn't part of my mission," Delta admitted, but then a thought occurred to him. If he turned up with package _and_ survivors, he might just get some recognition around ASA, this could be his lucky break.  
He looked over the faces of the scared people, and guessed a few had never seen battle before. He sighed, "Load them up."  
Another Soldier awaited close by, he approached him, "Soldier, I've arrived to secure a package, apparently it's called the Alpha Package, can you tell me where I can find it?" he asked.  
"Sorry Sir, never heard of it, The commander might know what you're talking about, she's over there," he indicated a woman with greying hair who was helping to usher people onto the cargo ship.  
He jogged over, "Excuse me, I'm here to retrieve the Alpha Package."  
"Ah yes, I wondered when they'd pick up on that, sorry but it's below deck and secured, it'll take too many men to get it out, we have to leave," she replied.  
He hesitated, he could leave with the survivors, but his employer had been very keen to have that package retrieved, "Sorry but, I don't leave without that package, and neither does my ship."  
She looked at him, making him feel very young. He was glad his helmet covered his expression; Delta had never been good at confrontations like this.  
But she gave up, desperation got the better of her, "Very well, I think we have a couple of fighters who could go and claim it, I'll go and send the word."  
"I shall wait on the ship," Delta said, "I have limited medical supplies but what that thing has is yours, I'll see to your people."  
She nodded thanks and ran off to a computer on the far side of the room, soldiers awaiting her orders.  
Delta turned and jumped up on the gangway, taking the hand of an elderly engineer, guessing by his uniform, and pushed him along with the rest.  
"There's a few medi-gel along that wall, try not to use more than half, we still have to get off this planet!" he called to the passengers, "Heal only the worst."  
Whilst he was waiting he climbed up to the control desk, a rusting component which hinted at the age of the ship he'd been handed.  
"I hope you've got some moves," he said, expecting to find resistance. The engines began heating up after the torture he'd put them through arriving. The ship groaned again in protest, but the fires ignited and the dashboard lit up. He was very aware the front end was sticking out of the hangar, the vessel being too large for it, so he raised the shields to half power.  
After checking all systems were still intact, he left the seat and returned to the hangar. Everyone who had previously been waiting now sat on the ship, secured in a room and guarded by a few of the soldiers, however the large metal box room was still buzzing with activity.  
"Geth, you say?" he asked a surprised soldier.  
"Yes sir, two and a half hours ago, came from nowhere," the soldier informed him.  
"It's odd for Geth to be this far out, let alone fighting," he murmured. A commotion was occurring at the doors that led into the hangar, the package had arrived finally.  
He relaxed a little until he saw what it was: a huge container, black and red, angular, with pipes going in and out, it looked _very_ alien.  
"I've prepared a place for it," he said, allowing the Asari who was carrying it with biotics to push it up onto the walkway.  
Several more people, probably survivors, jumped up and helped him secure it. He had it placed away from the passengers, mainly for his own peace of mind; he didn't want it tampering with.  
Everyone had jumped on, and he was anxious to leave.  
The Asari was chatting to another soldier who stood in the hangar.  
"We have to go!" he called, now eager to get away. He didn't like the look of the package, and the facility had been strangely quiet.  
He jumped up to the control desk and pushed the alarm for the walkway to close. He could see the soldier running back into the facility, probably to meet up with another team and fight off the Geth, Delta didn't care, he closed the ship and pushed the shields on maximum.  
"Ok, you hunk of junk, give me some speed," the ship vibrated violently as it pushed its big self off the hangar floor. He slammed his right hand on the thrust and felt himself being pushed back in his seat by the force of the acceleration.  
It became greater as he pulled the control stick towards him, causing them to enter a steep vertical climb straight out of the facility, when he pushed the thrust as far as it would go and they flew into the open air, higher and higher, till the window before him suddenly turned as black as space was.  
"Not bad!" he said, surprised at the speed. He opened the on board communications system, "This is your pilot, we have left the atmosphere and entered space, please secure yourselves as we'll shortly be reaching L-speed, and I haven't tested the on-board gravity system. We're on route straight for ASA, E.T.A 4 hours."  
He quickly surveyed his radars and had a peek around the windows, but couldn't see any Geth frigates, or any other ships in the immediate vicinity. He relaxed slightly, and got himself comfortable in the chair, activating the gravity system. The bulky cruiser adjusted its position steadily, and he gradually dragged the secondary speed thrusters close to full, watching the stars become a blur as he sped through space once more close to the speed of light.

* * *

"How it everything, pilot?" came a voice.  
Delta almost jumped out of his seat, he turned and faced the person.  
A Drell was perched on the ladder behind him, watching over him.  
"All's well so far," Delta replied, "Do you work for the facility?"  
"More or less," the Drell replied. His voice contained that signature croak, yet he sounded almost… mystical. Delta hadn't met many Drell in his life.  
"More or less? I didn't know Drell took contracts so far away from home," he pressed.  
"My religion forced me into choosing that one," he replied.  
"Your religion?" Delta asked, the disbelief layered on his voice.  
The Drell laughed, "Yes, I guess it is difficult for humans to comprehend. I suppose it's accurate to say it's a 'rite of passage'."  
Despite his interest, Delta didn't press that issue further, "I see. Are you a solider or one of the engineers?"  
"Actually, I'm neither," he replied, "I was an observer. My name is Psi."  
"Delta, nice to meet you," Delta said, taking the Drell's outstretched hand.  
"I observed you come up here by yourself, and feared you would end up talking to yourself if someone didn't come and distract you, I can sense your discomfort, all _is_ too well," Psi remarked, "I came to keep you company."  
"I appreciate it, but there's really not anything you can do, please have a seat though," he indicated the empty navigators chair on the right of his control desk. The cargo vessel had no need of a navigator for this mission, Delta knew where he was heading.  
Psi sat down anyway and stared at the computer map, "ASA, I have never been there before. Are there many different species?"  
"It's quite varied. I don't see many Drell there though, so you might stick out," Delta warned.  
"It does not bother me," Psi replied, "The more notice you make the better, I intend to find passage back to my home world, maybe someone there can help me."  
"Probably, people come and go all the time," Delta replied.  
"Are they good, willing people?" Psi asked.  
"Not all of them. They're the people who couldn't 'make it' at the citadel, out for cheap work," Delta replied.  
"Not like yourself then?" Psi asked.  
"What?" Delta said, caught off guard.  
"You diverted your mission in order to help those of us in need, that is kind of heart in my opinion," Psi explained.  
Now Delta felt guilty, "Actually… I was thinking about the added bonus I might get if I return with all these people."  
"I see," Psi neither looked nor sounded disappointed. He must have been new to the ways of the galaxy, at least the part Delta worked in. His eyes, large and black, betrayed nothing to Delta, who was generally a very poor reader of people anyway.  
"I guess ASA isn't that bad," Delta continued, "It's not really for people who didn't make it, it's for people who either don't like the citadel, or who get rejected. The Citadel offers better pay, but you have to join the companies, here you're just on your own, and some people prefer it that way. I know I do. ASA actually take care of some pretty serious stuff around the galaxy, stuff the Citadel doesn't want to get its hands dirty with."  
"How interesting galactic politics have become," Psi said, "I studied them along with history for some time, though I have heard of ASA before, I always wondered just what a human organisation was doing so far out in space away from Earth."  
"To attract more races," Delta guessed, "Better coverage."

* * *

E.T.A - 2 hours

His nerves were tense. No mission should be going this smoothly, he thought.  
Space had been quiet, as quiet as it ever was. No signals, no attacks, just open vacuum.  
So when the ship picked up a very faint distress beacon, he was practically expecting it.  
The red light flashed and twirled in its socket, he turned it off and jumped to the navigator desk, which contained the on-board computer, to have a look.  
"A call for help?" Psi asked, he had returned to the ladder to 'meditate'.  
Delta fine tuned the signal, "Two distress beacons, superimposed, very faint, I'd say they're about to give way."  
"Origin?"  
"Noveria, half a parsec away," Delta replied.  
Psi moved over to the desk and had a look, "Should we help?"  
"I'm not sure," Delta replied, "Could be a trap. I don't want to go off course."  
"We should help," Psi said, "Look where they are."  
Delta searched again, the distress beacons were out in the arctic desert, hundreds of miles away from any on-planet help.  
"They'll never be found in time," Psi added, "The planet's been battered by a storm that's scrambled the signal… we must have hit it at just the right spot…"  
"You think it's real?" Delta asked.  
"Only one way to find out. You can stay here, I'll help them, if the worst should happen, tell your boss I put a gun to your head," Psi said.  
"You're eager to help," Delta observed.  
"My religion calls me to help those who need help," Psi replied, "I'll get myself ready."  
Delta grunted with dissatisfaction but he slowed the ship right down and altered course, heading through the scrambled distress signal.  
"Attention all, we're just taking a slight detour," he called on the mouthpiece, "A distress beacon has been identified on a nearby planet, this should only take half an hour, thank you for your patience."  
He didn't like playing captain, having to sound formal and explaining everything, but he also didn't want to worry the passengers.  
He had left the control desk once to Psi as he went to check on them and the cargo. Psi was capable of flying the cargo ship, to Delta's surprise. He had scanned the passengers, identifying various races of engineers, from Salarians to Quarians, Humans to a few more Drell; it gave him the impression that the facility was a pretty important place, though none had said what they'd been doing.  
Delta turned the ship into the atmosphere and disabled the gravity system, the ship shuddering as it descended and picked up speed.  
Psi had gotten on a suit ready for the freezing temperatures of Noveria, and Delta shut the doors in the vessel to preserve heat, he even closed the hatch that led to the control desk.  
He was blinded by a snowstorm, everything was white, and flying towards him, it was disorientating. He closed the window shutters and relied solely on his calculations and navigation equipment. After ten seconds of descent, he pulled sharply on the breaks and flipped the ship around so that it descended backwards, meaning he was even more blind.  
But the ship was descending slowly enough, the landing gear broke through the frozen body of the ship and they hit the ground harder than he expected, but all in all successfully, he thought.  
"You've got ten minutes Psi," he said, not wishing to stay any longer than necessary. The source of the distress beacon may have moved since its activation.  
"I won't take long."  
Within two minutes, Psi ordered the ship to leave.  
Delta sat at the navigation desk, calculating how much time it would take to get back to ASA from here; another hour at least.  
He wasn't due back for at least three, to his relief, he needed this pay slip.  
He stormed the ship forwards, almost forgetting to close the walkway when Psi shouted out at him. When they had left the atmosphere, Psi returned to his side.  
"What was it?" Delta asked.  
"Two people lost, I've put them in with the others," Psi said.  
Delta nodded and activated the secondary speed again, grabbing onto Psi as the Drell fell backwards by the sudden acceleration.  
"Activating gravity field," Delta announced.  
"I've done some calculations, I can drop them off on the port that's part of the route we're taking, we can give them supplies from this ship, but I don't want any sign they were here when I return to ASA," Delta said, "If my employer finds out I took a detour, he's likely going to be mad."  
"Very well, I shall inform them," Psi muttered.

* * *

E.T.A - 45mins

"A few more people left as well?" Delta asked.  
"Yes, in order to seek medical care," Psi replied.  
"Ok, here's my plan, I'm going to drop you lot off at the medical station and make my way to the destination alone," Delta said.  
"Why is that?"  
"I don't like the sound of this employer, I received further instructions; it's like he knows what I'm doing. I just want to get this over with and get my money," Delta said.  
"If that is your decision," Psi said, his voice betraying no emotion once again.  
"There should be someone else there waiting to take the cargo away anyway, so it shouldn't take long at all, the sooner I can get medical care for everyone the better," he added.  
The radar suddenly perked up, an ominous bright spot was in their vicinity, the first ship since the last port.  
Delta tensed and Psi sat in the navigator chair.  
"Have they seen us?" Delta asked.  
"With engines burning as bright as ours, I'm sure they have," Psi replied, his eyes hastily taking in the signals and dials.  
"Can we identify them?" Delta asked, his hands were on the controls.  
Psi paused, the silence made Delta more tense.  
"Well?" he pushed.  
"Cerberus, and they're heading straight for us," Psi said.  
Delta looked at him, his terror hidden by the black visor of his helmet.  
"Are they bad?" Psi asked.  
"You have no idea," Delta said, he looked at the desk and hesitated, the ship had impressed him so far, but it was a cargo ship, not a fighter. He ran his hands along the control desk, getting his senses attuned to the workings of it, "Let's hope this thing's not as dated as it looks."  
He pulled the microphone towards him, "Brace for evasive manoeuvres, secure all passengers, doors will be locked in ten seconds."  
He heard the outcry from below the ladder.  
"What's going on?" someone shouted.  
"Another ship, possibly hostile," Delta announced, "remain calm, I'm powering down; they may not have seen us yet."  
He turned to Psi, "Going dark."  
With a flick of a switch, the engines died down, the lights went out, and the ship creaked on through space almost silently.  
With metallic groans from the sudden cooling down, Delta held his breath as the ship groaned and creaked, relaxing after the work he'd made it do.  
The navigation desk remained powered, oversaw by Psi.  
"Still there, still heading in our direction," he said.  
Delta jumped out of his chair and retrieved his rifle, positioning it in the holder built in on the back of the seat for convenience. He jumped up to the second layer, an observation point and tried to make out the dark ship moving towards them.  
"Can't spot them. How far?" he asked.  
Psi poked his head up, "About a mile or two that way."  
Delta strained his eyes in the direction Psi had pointed, and he just thought he could make out something moving; by the way the stars disappeared and reappeared within a flash.  
"They're moving fast," Delta said, "If I'm looking in the right place."  
The blackness grew closer, and suddenly they were illuminated by a huge light.  
Delta swore and dived back for the controls.  
"They've found us!" he said, "keep an eye out."  
"They're firing," Psi said calmly.  
The engines rattled into life once more, a great whirring sound, and they sped away from the Cerberus ship, entering a nose dive.  
"I'll try and get under it, scramble it's sensors," Delta said.  
The first few bullets hit their shields to no effect, the next barrage missed as they accelerated away.  
"Why would they attack?" Psi wondered.  
"They must know we're carrying something, they can probably sense it, Cerberus has got some crazy tech," Delta said as he swung the controls and the ship back upright, they were flying just under the ship. It was bigger than theirs, but not by much. He guessed it must be a small platoon of Cerberus soldiers.  
"Should we activate the distress beacon?" Psi asked.  
"No, let them think we're not bothered," Delta replied, "Let's see how long we can hold this off."  
As he accelerated away from the Cerberus ship, the shields were buffeted further, and the ship began to shake.  
"We're on full power, if I can turn around, we should be able to make it to ASA, _if_ we can outrun them and the shields last that long," Delta said.  
"Do you think you can pull it off?" Psi asked.  
"It's a rare thing, surviving an encounter with Cerberus, but I've come this far, so I'm not giving up now," Delta remarked.  
"Then I am with you too," Psi replied.  
He swung the ship around as tightly as he dared until they were facing the enemy battleship.  
"I'm going to try something," Delta said.  
The ship suddenly sped up, but gained height over the other.  
"You intend to go over them?" Psi asked.  
"If the shields will only last, they'll have to turn straight around and by that time we should have a head start," Delta said, "It's crazy, but we can't attack them."  
He swung the ship from side to side, hoping to avoid as many bullets as possible, in the meantime accelerating to full speed.  
"They'll tear right through us," Psi observed, "Shields down to 50%"  
"Focus the power on the front," Delta said.  
Psi did as instructed, "Back to 70% on the front."  
As the distance decreased, the rain of attacks increased.  
"Come on… hold out!" Delta hissed.  
They climbed until they were almost vertical, the Cerberus ship coming to meet them, like the joining of a v shape.  
"If we're faster we can do it," Delta said, though he could feel the rattles and shifts of the ship as it was bombarded, and he doubted they would be faster than Cerberus.  
"Maybe I can add my strength to the shield," Psi suddenly said and jumped away from his seat, down the ladder and landed smoothly on the floor below. Delta barely noticed, he was concentrating on avoiding as many bullets as possible.  
The shields did go up, the ship started to glow with biotic power, and Delta saw the Cerberus ship visibly slow down as they caught sight of it. It _did_ look like an attack.  
He had an advantage, and he took it, pushing the speed up to max, then engines burning brighter than ever before, he roared over the Cerberus ship and thrust the controls downwards, the cargo ship lurched horizontal, more forcibly than he intended, and they were free.  
Until they started slowing.  
It wasn't an engine failure, it wasn't a lack of power, but something was decreasing their speed, rapidly.  
"I thought we should be getting as far away as possible?" Psi asked, returning to the control deck.  
"We should, something's not working!" Delta cried out.  
"Or maybe something's stopping us?" Psi asked.  
"What could…" Delta began then he saw it. The Cerberus ship on the radar was approaching faster than possible.  
"They intend to board," he said, "We're in some sort of powerful magnetic field, they're slowing us down and pulling us together."  
"What do we do now?" Psi asked.  
Delta thought quickly, "Grab a weapon, go help your colleagues, I will go and fight off Cerberus alone, maybe they'll just think I'm the only person here and you can all catch them by surprise."  
"What are Cerberus like as fighters?" Psi asked.  
Delta hesitated again, "renown."  
Psi nodded, "Then… it has been fun, my friend. You will do well with the Gods. They appreciate heroes."  
"I'm not a hero yet," Delta said, picking up his rifle.

* * *

Cerberus blasted through the door within minutes.  
"Go!" Delta shouted to Psi as he locked the Drell away with the other passengers.  
As the first fire begun to hit the area around him, he crouched behind sme crates the cargo ship contained and retaliated. The Cerberus troopers were being bottle necked by the small entrance they had made, and Delta activated a snap freeze into them, hoping to slow them down.  
When his suit had recharged he sent overloaded their suits, causing a huge explosion that rocked the ship violently, the troops behind fell backwards, and Delta advanced.  
Behind another crate, closer to the oncoming platoon, he waved his gun and fired so they couldn't see him, "You're not getting past me!" he shouted over the noise.  
However, the Cerberus troops weren't interested in him; they hastily set up barricades and began to move elsewhere on the ship.  
'Searching for the cargo,' Delta thought.  
Luckily he had secured it, and it _should_ take them time to get to it, which he hoped would allow him to fight them off.  
A Trooper came from another doorway, meaning they were in the west side of the ship. Delta dived behind more cover as his suit was buffeted by bullets, and his shields cracked.  
As the Trooper moved towards him, Delta swung himself over the crates, grabbed the trooper and yanked him over to his side, aimed his gun at the helmet and finished him off quickly.  
"Woo!" Delta said, smiling, he'd never done something like that before.  
But now he had to move and save the package. The doorway was quiet, as if Cerberus had finished coming in and were all inside his cargo ship.  
He could hear their voices though, and knew they too were setting up resistance, should he show up.  
He took a glance at a small blueprint of his ship, taking note there was only one way to where he needed to be.  
His eyes caught something however, a smaller section of the cargo ship could be ejected, an escape pod.  
It was a floor lower, and on the Cerberus side, but it was worth a try.  
"Psi," he whispered into his microphone, "There's an escape pod lower down, it should be able to fit most of the passengers that are left and allow them to carry on."  
"Most?"  
"Maybe all at a squeeze, I don't know how many passengers we have left after we dropped some off at that dock," Delta admitted.  
"They're pretty scared over here, and besides, won't the magnetic field stop us?"  
It was a good point, and Delta wasn't going to enter a Cerberus ship to try and cut it off, not yet.  
"I think they're all on the west side, get some guns for the soldiers who can fight, they may find you. I'm going to try and stop them," Delta ordered.  
"Be careful," Psi replied, and the link went quiet.  
Delta breathed carefully, and tried to steal a glance around the corner. Sure enough, they were waiting for him, with supply pylons and shield boosters already set up.  
"Damn you and your technology," Delta said to himself.  
He _had_ to finish this mission, he'd come too far to call it quits now and give up, he'd never have another job again if he failed.  
He took something that was attached to the back of his suit and positioned it on his arm, a prototype he was also supposed to be testing.  
After he was satisfied it was secure, he turned into the corridor and ran full pelt, hoping to take them by surprise, if only a little.  
They noticed almost straight away, and Delta veered left and right in the tight space as bullets flew past him. He activated the device, and a large shield popped up on his arm, absorbing the damage effectively.  
With his other he lashed forward another snap freeze, and the bullets stopped. The troopers fell to the ground frozen solid and he jumped over them, and disabled the shield boosters temporarily.  
The Centurions were working on the door, but a few turned to attack him. He overloaded their shields quickly, and they all faltered. He flipped over one, ramming into another and sending him crashing into the others at the door. With another snap freeze, he froze the one he'd flipped over and wheeled around, activated his shield again and buffeted the others with bullets until they were dead.  
He paused, and then suddenly felt hands on his shoulders throwing him back into the shield pylon where he crashed and fell over backwards. An electrified baton striking his abdomen as he went, causing his shields to break and him to fall over awkwardly.  
The Centurion, who had become unfrozen, kicked him into the ground and aimed his gun at Delta's helmet. Delta's gun was elsewhere, it'd been knocked away as he fell.  
He desperately tried to freeze the Centurion again, but the Cerberus suit of armour had adapted and just blew it over.  
A click sounded, the shield pylon repaired itself, Delta's shields flashed into existence, the Trooper shot, and all Delta could see out of his visor was flashing as his shields absorbed the bullets.  
He took his chance. After grabbing the Centurions foot, rolled over and the Centurion fell to the ground as well.  
He activated his shield, swung it down with all his might, as if setting up his own barricade, and the edge sliced straight through the Centurions unprotected neck.  
The others had disappeared, retreating back down the corridor, heading for the passengers. The sound of fighting echoed through the hall way, and Delta swore under his helmet.  
He left the corridor behind him and sprinted towards the other side of the ship, stopping a few times to dismember troopers.  
"Psi! What's going on?" he called through his helmet.  
"They've breached the back door, no one's been killed yet, but we're retreating to the escape pod," Psi replied.  
Delta chose to flank the Cerberus troopers, when he reached the main section he turned right and headed down the small corridor that would lead him straight to them.  
None of the Cerberus troops had been taken out yet, but there was plenty of gun fire.  
Delta didn't hesitate; he launched himself on the back of another Centurion, bought his gun around to the neck, and quickly disposed of him with a single bullet. Another regular trooper noticed this and turned to fire at Delta, who flashed his shield into existence and rammed it into the trooper, knocking him flying, before he froze him solid.  
More were starting to notice and begun turning their fire on him. There were too many this time, Delta had to retreat back out the corridor.  
"I'm coming round to meet you, hold on," Delta said to Psi.  
"They've pushed us back to the main area."  
The route down to the lower regions of the ship was via a small one man ladder, which Delta had failed to notice. The passengers had set up hiding behind as many crates as possible, while the soldiers who could still fight were out in the open, but not directly in front of Cerberus fire.  
Delta came from the back of the ship and jumped straight into the line of Cerberus fire, slamming his shield down on the floor and blocking the doorway.  
"Hurry up!" he shouted.  
"It'll take too long!" an engineer called back, "We're heading for cover in this corridor!"  
He'd indicated the one where the Alpha Package was hidden.  
"Psi, cover them," Delta said, "I think there's another room down there, lock the door."  
He hadn't seen the Drell at all in the fight, nor could he see him now.  
His shield was close to overload, so he begun to open fire with his rifle; hoping to slow the onslaught.  
The troopers, however many there were, begun to pile up at the doorway, falling on top of each other.  
When the shield burst however, it sent a force out that almost broke apart the ship; Delta flew backwards, slamming into the wall, the Cerberus firing stopped instantly as they were wiped off their feet, and the passengers all flew into the corridor, some hitting walls, and some sliding metres across the floor. Delta sat in a daze, his head spinning, his arm almost broken he wagered.  
"Sir! Are you alright?!" a soldier picked himself up and ran over to his side, trying to help him up.  
A bullet flew through the air, Delta saw the explosion of blood that shot out of the other side of the soldier's helmet, the metal cracked like it was paper, and the man fell to the ground as quickly as he'd died.  
It was the first person Delta had lost that day. He screamed in rage, pushing himself to his feet, grabbing the soldier's rifle and his own, he ran to the Cerberus troopers and opened fired from atop the pile of bodies he'd created.  
The passengers didn't stay to watch; they got up and went to hiding along with the others.  
"You. Won't. Take. This. Ship!" Delta screamed at them as they fell to the floor in a mass of blood and bodies.  
He jumped down and finished the ones who were trying to get back up, unloading round after round of bullets until all was quiet on the ship.  
Maybe they were troopers out for training, new to Cerberus, but Delta stood there and couldn't believe his luck. He revelled in the silence for just a moment longer, before he jumped back up to the control desk and spoke to everyone.  
"Brace for escape!" he shouted.  
He jumped back down and sprinted across the gangway inside the Cerberus ship, navigating its quiet halls to the control room where he quickly killed the unprepared troopers who flew the ship.  
He left one alive, and jammed his shield into the man's stomach.  
"My ship is going to leave now, where do I deactivate this magnetic field?" Delta ordered.  
The trooper winced in pain under the helmet, Delta knew, but he was trying hard not to break. Delta popped a bullet into the man's feet.  
"Where is it?!" He shouted again.  
The trooper screamed and pointed at a secondary control station, Delta left him whimpering on the floor and jumped to take a closer look. It was as clear as crystal, and Delta laughed at the obviousness of it, "Many thanks my friend." he called, and put the soldier out of his pain.

* * *

E.T.A - 5 minutes

"We're entering too fast," Psi called.  
Delta swore, he'd forgotten to deactivate the secondary speed system.  
ASA dock flew into view faster than they'd ever have like to see.  
"Break!" a soldier called from below.  
"Reverse thrusters!" Delta shouted, and slammed his fist down hard on a black button on his control desk.  
Every passenger flew into the wall, Delta almost broke the restrainers on his seat, and Psi had to grab hold of the railing as his feet left the floor.  
The force of deceleration gave Delta tunnel vision, but he got through the worst of it, and managed to turn the ship away from a direct hit with ASA; not something he wanted on his report.  
The cargo ship had suffered heavily after the Cerberus attack, with an engine failure and a hole in the end of it, Delta had had to jam it up with objects to stop the air and the passengers flying out into space.  
"Ok Psi, get them to the medical station," Delta said as Psi regained his feet.  
The plan was that Psi would fly the passengers down to the med station in the escape pod and Delta would go by himself to the drop off point and meet his arranged package handler.  
Psi nodded and placed his hand on Delta's shoulder, "Until we meet again," the Drell said.  
"Hey!" Delta called, "I'll see you in the bar afterwards."  
He waited until Delta gave the signal and opened the hatch that would allow the escape pod to fly away. After a small explosion, he saw their ship turn and head away, perpendicular to his own direction.

* * *

He was alone, his ship littered with Cerberus trooper bodies, and one very secure package. Being the only life force again made him feel strangely alone, so he pressed the two working engines harder and hastened to arrive.  
The docking bay was in the main collection port for ASA, where many cargo ships came and went all day long, so he didn't look as out of place as he thought he might.  
"This is Lynx 3 requesting docking in bay 7," he called, "I've sustained damage and require fuel."  
He would need the cargo ship to go back and reclaim his own vessel after he was done. He wanted it to be working at full speed again.  
The permission was granted faster than he anticipated, was his employer waiting?  
The bay looked quiet, no one was waiting for him.  
He turned the ship slowly into port, and landed much more gracefully than he had done on Noveria.  
After lowering the gangway, he stepped onto safe, metallic ground that he knew well and sighed happily. It was over.  
And then, someone did approach. A soldier, with armour like he had never seen before.  
"You are here to deliver the Alpha Package?" the soldier asked.  
Delta hesitated, "Yes, it's on board."  
"Very well," the soldier said, but then raised his gun, "Unfortunately, my employer doesn't trust your silence. He thanks you for your hard work."  
Delta reacted instantly, as if he was expecting this. His shield flashed into existence once more after the long recharge it had had, and he forced the soldier away.  
After snatching the gun out of his hands, Delta shot through the soldier's shield and armour.  
He noticed the Cerberus emblem on the gun and swore to himself.  
"Why are Cerberus on ASA," he said to no one.  
More troops were surrounding him, appearing from behind crates, under the floor, out of doorways; he was completely cut off from escape. And he had no ammo.  
Before they could get close enough, he stormed back onto the ship, but all the weapons had been taken by the soldiers he'd saved.  
He opened the door to the Alpha Package, not sure why, and looked at it. Maybe it could help him; maybe it was some sort of weapon.  
It looked big enough to be a weapon that could destroy the whole of ASA itself, but he was desperate to try anything.  
Aware that the Cerberus troopers were probably jogging up to the cargo ship now, he desperately tried to open the container, trying to find out what was inside, disgraced at his own insistence.  
"Damn it!" he shouted as he gave up, and slammed his fist on the top of it. The cover was welded shut, he couldn't break it open.  
Delta finally gave up trying. He slumped against the container and awaited his death, activating the shield to try and find out what had caused that huge explosion that made his arm now ache.  
Perhaps it just had too high a damage count and needed tuning down into little bursts before he could reactivate it again. All in all though, he was mightily impressed.  
There was a huge noise behind him, and he swung away, turning to see what had happened. The noise had come from the container.  
His mouth dropped open as he saw two fists, human fists, protruding from within, he looked up and saw the lid now part of the cargo ships ceiling.  
The Alpha Package suddenly came to life, glowing and flashing, as the largest soldier Delta had ever seen in his life rose out of the machine, the pipes that were plugged into his suit dropping and spraying some residue over the ship.  
"What the…" Delta wondered, but the figure, angular, black shining armour, almost twice as tall as him, stared at him.  
In his hands were two shotguns.  
Delta shook his head in disbelief, "go kill."  
He followed the armoured figure out of the ship and braced his shield, but the Alpha Package didn't notice, he strolled straight towards the oncoming Cerberus troopers, who also didn't stop.  
A Centurion launched a rocket that hit the Alpha Package square in the chest, but Delta was stunned to see the shields didn't break, and the soldier didn't even stop walking, he just loaded his shotgun and started emptying shells into the troopers.  
Delta watched in awe and fright as the soldier grabbed, crushed, swung, knocked and killed the Cerberus troopers with as little effort as humanly possible; if you could call it human.  
Within ten minutes, the Alpha Package had chased after the retreating Cerberus troopers, killed them and returned to Delta, awaiting next orders.  
It wasn't long before ASA security finally made it to the hangar and a general approached him.  
"Is your name Delta?" the general asked.  
Delta nodded.  
"A group of people who we've just received in the medical wards, and a Drell who was leading them, told us you'd be here and that you may need help. They also told us you've travelled halfway across the galaxy in order to save them?" the general inquired.  
"I… guess I did," Delta suddenly realised.  
"Come with me, we have a lot to discuss," the general said, "Bring your friend."

* * *

5 years later

"But you wouldn't do something like that again would you?" Psi asked.  
"I'm just saying, things definitely picked up after that mission, and I finally got _some_ recognition!" Delta argued, "Would it be the worst thing in the galaxy if circumstances like that revealed themselves again?"  
The Drell continued to look at him, and then turned away, "You're as stubborn as you ever were."  
Delta laughed, "I was a hero! How can I ever top a mission like that?!"  
"You're trying to do that now?" Psi asked.  
"Maybe, I don't know, what if Project Earth leads to something bigger? I could finally get out of here. They say it's a one way trip to the Citadel," Delta admitted.  
"I wouldn't have thought they'd reward you with a one way trip to the Citadel," Psi replied, "Best you got last time was a new suit and shield."  
"Ah yes, I still don't know my way around this thing," Delta said, shifting his weight around.  
"Regardless, whether you die or not, you're on the team at least, that must be good for you?" Psi asked.  
"It is, but… I just miss doing… _something_. I want adventure again! The thrill of having the lives of passengers on your hands," Delta said, "This team is terrible; they don't like each other at all! Maybe if I can show them how good I can be, then they'll all try harder, and we might be able to complete a mission."  
Psi looked out into the void of space, a whole galaxy of dangers and jobs, but Delta wanted the worst of it. He certainly had changed since that mission, whether it was the immediate publicity he received after, or something else, something deeper, like losing that soldier, that had affected Delta like it had; Psi guessed he would never find out.  
"Just be careful, it seems like it's always me telling you to do that," Psi said.  
"You're the one who goes into battle wearing a coat and armed with nothing but biotics," Delta retorted.  
They had become close friends in the aftermath of the mission, but barely managed to see each other.  
"Can't believe if we'd have stayed… ten seconds longer, that facility would have destroyed us both," Delta said, "Crazy how fate works."  
"I do not believe in fate," Psi replied, "It was just your eagerness to leave."  
They both turned to look at Alpha, who stood a few feet away and was watching nothing in particular. The soldier had proved difficult to be rid of, so Delta allowed it to follow him around.  
"I intend to research my team anyway," Delta started, "see if I can find out any history. I'm sure there's something between the infiltrator and vanguard."  
"They were picked because they were the best," Psi exclaimed, "I'd be surprised if you don't find anything."  
"Come on Alpha, let's go home," Delta called, "Take care, Psi."  
"I hope to see you again soon," Psi replied, and strolled away.


	7. Ontarom - Firebase Dagger

Mission 3 – Ontarom

* * *

It wasn't long before their next assignment.  
With Eta and Zeta recovered, the team set out for what was probably their final mission.  
"There are four hot points we need you to access and send data from. This will allow us greater vision on the area to plan tactical attacks, don't let me down a third time," said the voice.  
They were on board the ship heading to Ontarom.  
"Guys, I've been thinking," Delta was the first to break the silence.  
"Always a bad thing," Kappa said, "Look kid, let's just finish it this time, ok?"  
"No! I've been thinking, we need to change how we do things," he started.  
Zeta's head, which had been perched on his sword, looked up.  
"We're not going to do well if we can't work as a team," he continued, "we've had moments were we've survived by the skin of our teeth-"  
"Aww, gotten scared have you?" Kappa mused.  
"Listen to him, Kappa," Zeta interrupted.  
"I'm sorry, who the hell put this guy in charge? I work for no one except the payer, that's how it's always been, and that's how it's gonna stay," Kappa finished.  
Delta looked pleadingly at Zeta, but the blue vanguard merely shrugged.  
It was an awkward silence that fell over the team. Alpha seemed impartial to it, however.  
"W-Who're we expecting as r-resistance anyway?" Eta asked.  
"Cerberus, again," Kappa replied.  
They broke the atmosphere and landed in a strangely deserted landing bay.  
The team jumped out together, taking in their surroundings.  
"Lovely day," Zeta remarked.  
"Nice day for an ambush. It's too quiet," Kappa said.  
"Alpha, go over there and see if there's anyone around," Delta ordered the large soldier.  
"Kappa, fancy taking an' elevated position on that small roof over there?" Zeta asked.  
"No," was the only reply he got as Kappa walked in the opposite direction.  
"First transmitter's this way," Mu smirked, indicating the position Zeta had pointed to.  
"N-No gunshots f-from Alpha," Eta remarked, "m-m-must be deserted."  
Alpha rejoined them whilst Mu started working on the transmitter.  
"Anything?" Delta asked. But Alpha just looked ahead like none of them were there.  
"Oh yeah, I sometimes forget he can't speak," Delta laughed.  
"More like he can't comprehend communication," Zeta observed.  
"Come look at this, people," came Kappa's voice.  
Eta, Zeta and Delta left Mu and Alpha and ran over to Kappa.  
"What's up," Delta asked.  
He pointed to a large container crate.  
"I don't get it," Delta said.  
"Look closer."  
Eta was the first to spot it, "Oh."  
There was an armoured foot protruding out from behind it, barely visible.  
"Mu, how close are you to finishing?" Zeta asked.  
"First one's done, why?"  
"Get over here," he waited till she arrived, "get cloaked and go look at that foot."  
She looked at him.  
"Please," he added.  
"Guard up," Kappa said.  
"Dead Cerberus Trooper, looks fresh, I think… wait, there's more. Another over there, get down here," Mu said.  
They quickly jumped down and rallied to her position. Indeed, there were many Cerberus troopers, all dead.  
"Anyone know what kind of weapon killed them?" Kappa asked.  
"Movement!" Delta hissed.  
They all ducked for cover.  
"Where?" Zeta hissed back.  
"Up on the ridge, where we landed," Delta replied.  
Kappa took out his sniper and started looking around, "I can't see anything."  
"Well something's here, these Cerberus troopers didn't just drop dead," Zeta said.  
"Maybe they all got diseases," Delta suggested.  
Kappa gave him a harsh tap to the helmet.  
"Shh!" Mu said.  
They listened, and heard gunshots.  
"Alpha!" Delta suddenly remembered, and began running.  
"Go save his ass, Kappa," Zeta asked, "We'll get to the second one."  
For once, Kappa complied.  
"I s-smell Biotics," Eta said.  
"You bloody reek of them, I'm not surprised," Zeta joked.  
"Oops," Eta said, when she noticed she was leaking black tendrils of biotics again.  
"Second one's just up there," Zeta said, "we'll go together, just to be safe."  
Him, Mu and Eta slowly moved out from their cover, but could still see no one.  
"Kappa, what's going on?"  
"Alpha finished them off, they're Geth."  
"Eta, could you come over here?" Delta asked.  
Confused, Eta ran back to them.  
"Y-yes?" she asked when she reached Delta.  
"I got hit by something, could you smell this?" he asked.  
"W-what?"  
"On my arm, just tell me what it smells like," he pestered.  
Reluctantly, she took a sniff, and then another.  
"Biotics," was all she said.  
Delta looked at Kappa in alarm.  
"Guys, be careful. These aren't normal Geth," he said.  
"What do you mean?" Zeta replied.  
"They're using biotics."  
Zeta stopped and looked at Mu.  
"How can Geth have biotics?" he asked, almost rhetorically.  
"One explosion and we're down, be careful," Kappa said.  
The two continued on, finally reaching the second transmitter. Zeta went to look around the area, whilst Mu turned invisible and began work.  
"Mu, what happened to you?" he asked quietly when he returned.  
"Don't," was all she said.  
"Two months we spent in that place, we finally got out, and when we arrived home, you just disappeared?"  
"I said don't!" she cried.  
Shocked, Zeta didn't press further. They suddenly heard noises coming from outside.  
"Are you guys near us?" Zeta asked.  
"No, we've got more of these Geth things on us," it was Delta who replied.  
"Good," Zeta took out his sword and got ready, just before shadows could be seen in the doorframe, he sent of a biotic slash that passed through the wall. They heard heavy thumps outside.  
"I'll go look," he said.  
He peeked around the corner, and sure enough, it was Geth. Three bodies lay on the floor, defeated.  
"Grab one for me," Mu said.  
He pulled the closest one into the room, and Mu began looking over it.  
"Kappa, I'm sending you the scan," she said.  
"What's this?" Zeta asked, pointing to a small symbol engraved into the Geth's left leg.  
"Old Greek symbol for capital Sigma," Mu replied, looking closer.  
"Anyone know anything on the Greek letter for Sigma?"  
They were all negative replies, "I'll do some research when I'm back," Delta offered.  
"We're closer to number three, we'll try working our way there, they've got Pyro's and Rocket troopers so far," Kappa said.  
Mu broke off a bit of plating from the Geth unit, before turning invisible again as she finished the transmitter and began running to help the others. Zeta looked over to where they were and focussed on one Rocket Trooper at the back of the ambush. He took a breath and hurled himself over with a Biotic Charge.  
The ambush was large; a group of over twenty had come to attack them.  
Alpha stood at the back of the group, with his Typhoons out, a constant open fire.  
Delta crouched behind a small crate, sending the odd Incinerate out.  
Eta tried battling biotics with biotics, sending the odd Geth flying with a throw.  
Kappa carefully selected more dense areas and threw grenades into them; his pylon was down around him.  
Mu had her sword out and was slicing at a Geth Rocket Trooper, whilst Zeta sent another slash out before they knew he was behind them.  
"Eta, be careful," Kappa warned. Her shield was taking a battering from biotic attacks, "One powerful attack and you'll explode-"  
A Prime rounded the corner and instantly hit her with a large, powerful pulse of biotics, her shields exploded and she flew to the ground in a heap.  
"Crap!" Kappa shouted, he tried to get up to help her, but was instantly buffeted by a flurry of biotics, techs _and_ bullets.  
"Can't get to her!" he shouted.  
"On my way," Mu said. She activated her cloak and began running through the lines of Geth.  
Zeta also had to teleport out of the Primes way, back to his teammates.  
Mu reached Eta and began applying medi-gel, but quickly had to dodge away as a rocket sailed past her.  
"You guys keep them distracted; I'll go and get the third transmitter!" Delta shouted.  
"No!" Zeta roared, but it was too late. Delta stood up and took another rocket straight to the chest, sending him also crashing to the ground.  
"Could have really done with his big-shield too," Kappa mused.  
"This is no time for jokes Kappa; we need to come up with something quick, we're outnumbered!" Zeta shouted.  
"And I thought you were the funny one," Kappa smirked.  
"What the hell's your problem?" Zeta asked.  
"My problem? You _kids_ think it's all fun and games to go teleporting around with a goddamn sword whilst we're in a battle! I don't even know why I signed onto this goddamn mission! I get stuck with a bunch of idiots, one who can't even navigate a battlefield without getting himself killed, another who doesn't even understand orders, she's insane, and _she's_ got some long standing grudge against you! Once we finish this, I'll take my credits and leave!"  
"This isn't about credits! This isn't even about the job!" Zeta argued, "it's about the idea! You act like you're some sort of seasoned war veteran! You're not. Not here. With us, you're a teammate, you're in the same boat as us, you're nothing more, and you're nothing less! The idea is to form a team from the best. We're the best, but we're no team! We fail because we're just in it for ourselves!"  
"What do you want me to do about that?" Kappa asked.  
"Set an example. This is our last mission, you don't have to see any of us after this if you don't want to, but for this mission only, let me know you've got my back," Zeta said, "No leaders, no one's in charge, we live off each other; or we die."  
Kappa hesitated, but he saw no other way around it, "Fine, you have my ears for this mission only vanguard. Let me down, and I'll kill you personally."  
Finally smiling, Zeta said, "Fine with me."  
"You have a plan?"  
"Toss one of your stun grenades as soon as I finish charging," Zeta ordered, "Mu, what's Eta looking like?"  
"I still can't get to her, their coming up behind us now," she replied.  
"Toss it," Zeta said, and he charged into the pack of Geth, ending right above Delta's fallen body.  
The grenade arched through the air, but Zeta focussed all his attention on Delta and applying the medi-gel.  
"Quite a speech," Delta breathed.  
"We're not out of this yet."  
The grenade hit, and the lightning surged through the Geth horde, temporarily stunning most of them.  
"Get your shield, stand over Eta but don't heal her, make sure she's protected from the front," Zeta said as he picked the Sentinel up.  
"Alpha, cover the behind," Kappa said.  
"Mu, you should be able to get to Eta now," Zeta finished.  
Alpha moved into position behind Mu, and took out a Piranha, loading rounds into the oncoming swarm.  
"Focus on the faster ones," Kappa said, meaning the more mobile infantry.  
He took a rocket trooper out as he was hit in the arm with a warp-like biotic.  
"Cover me Zeta, shields down," he said.  
Zeta stabbed a Geth just as it was about to finish Kappa off.  
The Engineer looked at him, "Remember, let me down and I kill you."  
The vanguard nodded to him.  
"We need to get out of here," Delta said.  
"First useful suggestion I've heard you make all day," Kappa said.  
"Eta's up," Mu suddenly said.  
"We can move now, what's it looking like behind us?" Zeta asked.  
Delta rejoined the front with Kappa and Zeta, engaging his shield again to absorb the damage, allowing Kappa to open fire.  
They felt suddenly more focused, almost like there was a unity between them, until Eta shouted out.  
She wasn't down; instead, she sprinted straight past Delta, into the crowd, burning with biotics.  
"What the hell's she doing!?" Kappa shouted.  
They watched as everything around her seemed to be affected somewhat by the biotics, but Eta wasn't concentrating on them, she was directed towards the Prime.  
Within seconds, she was ploughing it with all manner of biotic attacks; explosions ricocheting off its armoured body. She circled it, pelting it like she had some personal vendetta. They could smell the dark, burned stench from behind their cover.  
"Slash it Zeta, another explosion," Kappa suggested.  
Zeta did so, sending another shockwave into the crowd and beyond. It touched the Prime and caused another explosion.  
"I think she knows it, maybe you should let her finish it off?" Delta said. His shield collapsed as a another rocket hit it's surface. He fell over backwards, as a trooper came running up to try and finish him.  
He threw his arms into the air, and looked away, as two streams of blue smoke jetted out from somewhere on his armour, freezing the Geth solid.  
He turned back round to look at it, "I didn't know I could do that!" he said, with elation.  
The Prime suddenly made a large roaring sound, and exploded, leaving Eta standing there; panting.  
"Quite a display," Zeta remarked.  
"We have to go, evac's gonna be here soon," Kappa said.  
"There's an opening back here, Alpha can hold it but you've got to run," Mu shouted.  
"Eta, get back here!" Zeta said.  
She complied, "Are w-we all f-friends ag-g-gain now?"  
They left the front and staggered back to where Alpha kept the final few Geth at the back at bay, and joined Mu.  
"Delta, can you cover any rockets?" Zeta asked.  
He nodded, "Kappa, you can stun any S-Geth along the way with your grenades, whilst Mu slips behind, invisible."  
"I gotta take orders from him now?" Kappa started, but Zeta gave him a stern look under his helmet, one he was sure Kappa could feel.  
"Fine; wasn't a bad idea anyway."  
Delta almost stopped and looked at him, "Thanks."  
"S-Geth?" Zeta asked.  
"I Figured, since they had a Sigma on them, it'd make sense. They're not normal Geth," Delta replied.  
"Rocket," Mu said calmly.  
"What?" Delta replied.  
The rocket sailed straight over them, and hit Alpha squarely in the chest. The large soldier didn't even falter.  
"What is he anyway?" Kappa asked.  
"I don't know, some object of high value that I had to secure this one time," Delta replied.  
"Could you be a bit more observant with the rockets kid?" Kappa asked, "Please."  
Zeta looked at him again.  
"I asked nicely," was all he got.  
"Sorry, I'll try harder," Delta replied.  
The next room had more S-Geth waiting in it. Kappa stunned them again whilst Alpha open fired. Mu went straight to the transmitter, turned invisible and began work.  
"What was all that about with the Prime?" Zeta asked Eta.  
"What P-Prime?" Eta replied.  
He couldn't figure out if she was joking or not, "the Prime you just mutilated? About two minutes ago?"  
"Oh, th-that Prime. S-sorry, I forget e-e-easily," she said, and turned away to survey the battle.  
Delta gave Zeta a look, and they both shrugged.  
"So you can freeze things too?" Zeta asked him.  
"Apparently so, I don't know where it came from though," Delta said, observing his arms.  
The room was cleared of the S-Geth, and Mu finished the transmitter.  
"Let's go!" Delta said.  
It became more 'routine' after. Twice more they ran into 'S-Geth' resistance, but efficiently killed them. There was a new unity to the team.  
By now the S-Geth had figured out what they were doing, and began moving to the final transmitter.  
"There'll be heavy resistance in this one," Delta announced.  
"F-fun," Eta replied.  
Delta pushed Alpha to the front, "You're up buddy."  
"Any grenades Kappa?" Zeta asked.  
"Got a couple left. Hey kid, I've got an idea," Kappa said, "I want you in to freeze loads with that Cryo mechanism of yours, get behind your shield, because then I'll toss a shock grenade, should make a nice Cryo-blast."  
"Ok," Delta replied.  
Eta braced herself and ripped open the door, allowing Alpha to walk in and open fire on everything that moved.  
"Mu, can you get to the transmitter cloaked?" Zeta asked.  
"Yes."  
She disappeared and jogged after Alpha, who was taking heavy fire.  
"Go, Delta!" Kappa shouted.  
The small soldier sprinted around, trying to find a large enough group to hit, Kappa followed him with his sniper scope.  
"Fancy some explosions?" Zeta asked Eta.  
She nodded and biotics bubbled into existence around her. They raced after Alpha, who had taken it upon himself to set up behind a large desk. He jabbed his arms into the air, and out flew a few grenades, devastating a small group in the corner.  
"Kappa! All set!" Delta shouted.  
"We're being flanked!" Kappa replied, "Can't get to you."  
"They're breaking through," Delta said.  
"Zeta, take this, I'll do it," Mu exclaimed.  
Zeta charged over to her, killing an S-Geth in the process.  
She jumped up and took out her sword, fused electronics into it and slashed much like Zeta did.  
The Cryo-Blast killed every enemy affected by it, and caused others to stagger.  
"What am I looking at?" Zeta asked.  
"It's not hard," Kappa replied.  
"I'm a vanguard! I don't do techy stuff."  
Mu crouched next to him again, and he watched as she took the console and resumed work. She flicked through screens, successfully managing to breach a firewall, and hack into the computer.  
"You seemed fine with computers when I first met you," Mu observed.  
"Oh, you remember?" he mused and paused, "I've been out of it for a while, training my biotics."  
"Of course I remember! You ruined my life!" Mu hissed.  
"You're chatty all of a sudden," Zeta observed.  
She said no more, focussing on the transmitter. Zeta was distracted by S-Geth Hunters, who had flashed into existence next to them.  
Delta blocked off a rocket and smashed his shield into another Geth. The room was quickly clearing; he saw many of the S-Geth covered in some biotic residue.  
"Z-z-zeta, biotic s-slash please," Eta said.  
The Vanguard took out his sword and sent all those covered in Eta's biotics exploding.  
"Didn't know you could do something like that too, Mu?" Kappa asked, "Would have been helpful to know earlier."  
"She's very secretive," Delta said when Mu didn't reply, "I'll say you've still got a couple more tricks up your sleeve."  
A large door, which they hadn't noticed upon entering, suddenly opened, revealing another S-Geth Prime. This one had biotics fuelled onto its armoured body, much like Eta did; it was also a metallic black, unlike other Geth Primes.  
"Looks tough," Kappa said.  
They started focussing their fire power on it; more or less everything else in the room had been destroyed.  
"Any explosions would be great!" Kappa shouted.  
Delta sent an incinerate sphere, which Kappa detonated with one of his grenades. Eta blasted it with biotics, followed by another explosion from Zeta, who launched a biotic slash.  
The S-Geth Prime flinched, but turned his attention first to Zeta. Within one blast his shields were down, forcing him to move out of the battle to recharge.  
"You don't last long," Kappa said, firing a sniper round into the S-Geth's shield.  
"What I have in biotic strength, I suffer in shields, have to remain light," Zeta said.  
"Charge it!" Delta said, "It'll restore you right?"  
"I'm not going near that thing when it's got its full shields up."  
The Prime took out Eta next, she delivered several explosions, but was forced to retreat behind cover, as more S-Geth troopers entered the room.  
"Delta, cover Mu," Kappa said.  
The Sentinel moved and opened his shield to guard her. The Prime took it down with one hit, but was quickly distracted when Alpha jumped out from cover and stood in front of it, loading shotgun rounds. It stood at least a metre taller than the Soldier, but Alpha wasn't fazed slightly. He unleashed more grenades into its front and carried on shooting, all while being battered by the Prime's own biotic explosions.  
"Careful, Alpha," Delta said.  
The shields went down, and Kappa altered his grenades, sending more flying into it.  
Zeta and Eta finally made it back into the scene.  
"Could use a biotic slash over here Zeta," Delta asked, he and Mu were surrounded.  
Instead, Zeta charged into them, and started slicing them with his sword, flashing in and out of existence in the process.  
The S-Geth Prime moved to attack Kappa, who was perched behind a small set of crates. The Engineer ducked as a siege pulse shot over him, and he realised he was cornered.  
"It's got me cornered!" he shouted.  
They all turned and saw Kappa get buffeted with a biotic attack, which lingered on him.  
"It's going to explode him," Zeta said.  
They heard a small noise behind them, and saw Mu suddenly appear behind the S-Geth Prime, sword ready for strike. She climbed up onto its back, up to the head as the Prime's arm began glowing lightly blue. Kappa unloaded his final grenade, but it didn't kill the Prime, It was about to release the biotic attack when Mu stabbed down, breaching the armour of its head, straight into its body.  
The S-Geth Prime stopped, jerked a little, and then crashed to the ground, whilst Mu jumped off it.  
Shaken, Kappa stood up, "Thanks."  
"You're not the only one who learned to teleport," Mu said to Zeta.  
He laughed, and the rest of the team joined them.  
"The transmitter?" Delta asked.  
"Finished," Mu replied.  
"Ok, where to next?" Zeta asked.  
They paused, realisation setting in.  
"There are no more," Delta said quietly, "We've finished?"  
"Well… I assume so," Zeta said, "What do we do now?"  
"C-call for evacuation?" Eta asked.  
They paused again, all deep in thought, until gun shots showered the room from far away S-Geth troopers, and they were brought back to reality.  
"Good idea, let's get the hell out of here," Kappa said.  
Delta signalled they were done and ready, and the team ran out to the evacuation zone, which was covered in a small army of the S-Geth, and two more of the black Primes.  
"To hell with this!" Kappa shouted, and took out his missile launcher, sending it straight into them.  
The S-Geth blew up like they were never there, and the team sat down, awaiting the arrival of their evacuation ship.  
"That didn't go too bad," Kappa said.  
"Maybe… maybe we have got what it takes?" Delta replied.  
"Doesn't matter," Zeta started, "this was our last mission."  
Kappa looked around, "I have something I think I should say; to all of you. I came into this really not expecting much. Today however, you lot really came through for me, you saved my life. I'm not big on speeches, but, thank you, it's been good."  
Delta patted him on the shoulder, but Kappa could sense the Sentinel was grinning under his helmet.

* * *

Back at ASA, the commander struggled to keep a smile off his face.  
"You've done yourselves proud, we watched the whole thing," he said, "One success doesn't discount the effect of two failures though. Two big failures."  
"We know sir, but, I think I speak for everyone when I say, we've only just started to understand what it takes to be a team," Zeta replied.  
"I saw, and you did work well together, just like we thought you would. With a success rate of only thirty-three percent though, we're at a financial loss," he hesitated, "Project Earth has been terminated."  
"Sir?" Delta interjected.  
"Yes?"  
"There was something strange down there. You've probably seen it, but all those Geth had a Sigma symbol on it. It was supposed to be a Cerberus stronghold, but they had been killed. These Geth use biotics, and I think there's something going on with this Sigma, whatever it is," he said, "this doesn't spell well for the galaxy at all, and I think you'll soon need an experienced team to go into battle and find out what's going on, a team that have fought these 'S-Geth' before and survived. We are that team sir, give us another shot."  
The commander looked at them, each helmet hiding a battle-worn identity that had just shown him a whole new side of themselves.  
"Project Earth has been terminated," he said again, "but I'll see what I can do. This is by no means over."


	8. Zeta

Zeta

Based on N7 Slayer (Vanguard)

* * *

Post Mission 1

Zeta typed in his pass code and entered his quarters on ASA.  
Sat on his bed, as always, was Gamma, waiting for him.  
"Hey," she said as she looked up from her screen.  
"Hacked my door again? I can't keep you out," Zeta joked, moving to sit next to her.  
"Time's like this, when there are no jobs going around, it's nice to have company," she replied quietly, wrapping her arms around him.  
He felt tingles from where her fingers traced his armour. Even on ASA he had to wear his light blue and black get up, including his helmet. It didn't bother him much, he had grown so used to having it on he barely took it off anymore.  
Gamma looked into his visor, as a Quarian, she had to always wear her suit; he had never yet seen part of her body without it. It was part of the reason he kept his armour on; so she didn't feel so uncomfortable.  
"You'll never guess what happened today," he began.  
She had known about Project Earth, and had been more than happy to let him go gallivanting off halfway across the galaxy to unknown territory. She was consistently stuck at ASA with no work, so she knew best of all what it was like. She'd encouraged him to go for it, to stop him becoming bored.  
Gamma was a hacker, one of the most skilled Zeta had ever known, and her tech finesse was unparalleled in his opinion. It was a shame Quarians were part of the less popular races for ASA work.  
He placed his sword carefully on the table and rested on his back, her head on his stomach, "After five years, I've found her," he explained, "Mu has finally resurfaced."  
He could feel her tense, "The woman from the cargo ship?" she asked.  
"Hmm," he replied, "She's on Project Earth."  
He had just returned from his first, unsuccessful mission. After Mu had run off he'd gone to the food court, but hadn't felt like eating, his body sore and tired after the long excursion; he'd quickly decided to return home.  
"I suppose she _was_ in the same circumstances as you," Gamma thought aloud, "It would only make sense."  
"Yes but after all this time? She barely even acknowledged me!" Zeta complained.  
"Would you like her to?" Gamma asked.  
He thought about it, "I don't know... Maybe... Instead of pretending like it never happened."  
"An experience like _that_ could certainly change people; you changed your views because of it, right?" Gamma asked.  
He didn't reply, merely closed his eyes and thought back to those cold, isolated days when Mu and he had been trapped in the snowy desert of Noveria. He could feel the cold still in his bones, still biting at his skin under his suit, another dull ache. He could feel the push of the wind, rocking him as he slept or stood. His ears rang with the sound of the blizzards they'd endured, he swore his skin was permanently a light shade of blue.  
"You're thinking about it?" Gamma enquired.  
Although she couldn't hack into people's minds, she could easily read Zeta, he found.  
"We rolled down that hill for… what felt like days. The mountains on Noveria are huge, you can't even imagine," he said, "And when we stopped, we were still together, trapped in snow. I could see her foot even though she blended in with the snow. We'd been fighting, and I'd saved her from Cerberus. On the railing, I challenged her to a fair fight; no one's ever been able to fight me like she did. And then it just exploded. I thought it was all over, and then I saw her brushing snow off herself and looking round, helplessly. She hadn't been in a situation like that before, I could tell. She couldn't survive, and I doubted I could either. But the way she moved her head, desperately, I decided I had to try and save her again.  
On that first night we tried to sleep, we slept without a fire, only our suits to keep us warm. They'd stop us from freezing, but that was it. After about four days in I tried to build a shelter but it collapsed half way through. We'd had no food up to this point; she'd left all hers up on the firebase, whilst I was supposed to be in and out on that day.  
I suggested we go looking for shelter, somewhere on that planet, within our proximity; there had to be something. She walked about ten yards behind me, all the way there, following my lead but never trusting me," his voice trailed off as he became lost in thought.  
Gamma looked up at him, "You said you were on that place for about a month?"  
"I lost track of time to be honest, the first thing I did was find a weapon. I remember finding this iced over cave, like a waterfall had frozen solid just before it. Snow and ice on Noveria are different, I made a few ice picks as weapons, and a couple of swords; ice is a lot sturdier on Noveria, much more reinforced. We were attacked one night by this huge… beast, I've never seen anything like it," Zeta continued, "Anyway, Mu distracts it whilst I kill it. We have some food, now we just have to cook it. After a couple of hours dragging this beast along, we finally catch sight of a building through the snow. For the first time I felt the tiniest flicker of hope and we practically ran to it. Turns out it was an empty, abandoned research facility, however, we found rations of food and we now had somewhere safe-ish to stay, it was an amazing feeling."  
"Didn't you activate your distress beacons?" Gamma asked.  
"When we were inside, we did. Mu found something amazing. Below the building, a stairway carved through a tunnel of snow, led down into a cave, with pure, fresh, unfrozen water! I checked the temperature and it somehow was warmer at the bottom than at the top of the cave. The water was still cold but it was drinkable. I went up to the top of the facility on the roof, to see if we could send out a larger distress signal, but most of the equipment was frozen over or broken. Anyway, we stayed there for a few weeks, and I decided to practise sword fighting with Mu, after I made her a sword too. I guess it was after this we really started talking more. She barely spoke to me, barely gave me anything more than… five words a day?"  
"Wow," Gamma laughed.  
"So yeah, after we started training, she opened up more. I guess it was because she felt a little safer and started to realise I wasn't going to kill her," Zeta admitted.  
Gamma laughed quietly, "You _really_ give away that impression."  
"I can be frightening," Zeta argued.  
"I would like to see that," Gamma teased.  
He suddenly teleported away and reappeared on the ceiling, falling down and on top of her, pinning her arms to the bed.  
"I was so comfy!" she complained, but she had to admit, the faint blue reflections of light on his visor did give him an edge.  
He picked himself up off of her and took his sword from the table. Biotics flowed into existence along it as he wiped his hand down the blade. He held it before him, feeling its balance, the weight of it in his hands, how easily it sliced through the air.  
"You learned to do that down there?" Gamma asked, indicating the biotics.  
"Yes, I realised we couldn't rely on strength alone, we weren't strong enough to face off larger foes. And if Cerberus found us again, we'd be doomed for sure. I could teleport, she had a tactical cloak, and a couple of tech powers, but she was a very heavy weapon user before that. I could charge but I didn't fancy doing that all the time, it gets pretty disorientating after a while. So I decided to work on fusing biotics and my ice sword. It's actually easier than getting it to fuse with metal."  
"I looked into that," Gamma interjected, "You're the only person who's ever managed to do it. That's pretty impressive."  
"You think so? I wouldn't say I was particularly skilled with biotics at the time, only enough to teleport myself. But it was fun to work on," he admitted, "Turns out it _did_ save my life, more than once. I first used it in battle when we were attacked by a larger creature. We'd decided to leave the facility, taking as much with us as possible and try to find some help. Mu said she'd never seen anything like it in her life. I suggested she try it with tech powers. We'd work on it all night long, trying to fuse tech and ice. It seemed so much more temperamental than biotics, maybe because tech powers aren't natural. Plus her sword kept melting."  
"Did she ever do it?" Gamma asked.  
"I don't know. Not when I was with her," Zeta replied. He looked into the blue wreath of biotic flame that engulfed the shiny silver blade, "We must have walked hundreds of miles and found no one. Not even another facility. After weeks of walking, she finally opened up to me. It was on a night where the sky suddenly opened up. The valley we were in had been buffeted by another blizzard that day, but all of a sudden, the clouds just rolled back, and all went quiet. It was the strangest thing that has ever happened to me. The stars came out in their thousands, illuminating the area as clear as day. We looked up and could see the horse head nebula glittering, and beyond that, the milky way splashed out across the sky, it was… majestic, you can't even imagine a sight like it."  
"Sounds amazing," Gamma exclaimed.  
"It's a shame Noveria isn't a touristy place," he joked, "but on that night, I think she just gave up and told me everything. Her life had been work, no friends, and no enemies. She was alone in a galaxy as full as ours. But for the first time in her life, she actually felt like she wasn't alone. I'd never realised before. We spoke all night long, about where she was trained, what she did before ASA, what she intended to do after we got off Noveria. I had to keep her hopes up, I felt like it was my responsibility. And then the sun, Pax, appeared, the clouds returned, the storm begun again, and we were back to normal. We didn't speak of that night again, but she finally walked _with_ me, not behind me. That was the day your cargo ship came and saved us."  
"She disappeared when you returned here, and now she's back," Gamma finished.  
"Exactly."  
"How did it go today?" Gamma asked.  
He chuckled, "We were terrible. _I_ was terrible. There are six _specialists_ , or so we're called. Our Adept is this… psychotic woman who has biotics like I've never seen them before; the Soldier doesn't speak, at all, no form of communication, only between himself and the Sentinel, who's a clumsy fool, how he ended up on the team I can't understand. The Engineer is this old guy who's as big headed as they come, and then there's Mu, who's as cold as ice and just wants to get it over with as quickly as possible," Zeta explained.  
"They can't be _that_ bad," Gamma laughed.  
Zeta shook his head, "Wait till next time, we'll see what happens."

* * *

Post Mission 2

Zeta opened his eyes to some very blurry lights and two figures next to where he lay.  
He suddenly realised he was in a medical bay.  
"Zeta? Can you hear me?" came a voice, not a nice voice, it was very muted.  
He groaned, his throat as dry as sand, trying to make a noise was painful.  
Then it all came back to him in a flash, the running, the barrage of troopers, the rockets, and then all he could remember was fire. He tried to focus his eyes, tried to move his head but that proved too difficult as searing hot stabs of pain shot down his neck and back.  
"Try not to move too much, you've taken a beating," said the voice again.  
"Will he recover?" asked the second. Gamma, he realised.  
"Oh yes, he'll be fine. He'll have a lot of pain over the next few days however as we try to re grow some of that tissue on him, but I expect him to make a full recovery," the first person replied, Zeta guessed she was a doctor.  
His eyes were focussing better now, he could make out the orange tint of Gamma's suit, he looked into her visor and thanked the stars he was alive.  
"You damn fool!" Gamma shouted, slapping his arm as he smiled up at her, "I told you to be careful! I was worried sick!"  
He cried out in pain, and the doctor frowned at her, but chuckled, "Your friend hasn't left your side since you got here," she explained.  
"No jobs?" Zeta croaked.  
"Still nothing," Gamma informed him, placing herself back on the seat next to the bed.  
"You must have been bored," Zeta asked, "I told you to wait and see what happens. I guess that proves me right."  
He realised she was about to hit him again, so he quietened down.  
"Who saved me?" he asked.  
Gamma looked at him carefully, "Mu. According to the report, she jumped from the escape vehicle and dragged you back to it. The person who was with you helped."  
"Mu? Blimey," Zeta replied.  
"She came in prior to your friend arriving, and handed me this for safe keeping," the doctor reappeared, handing him his sword.  
Zeta finally didn't know what to think. His head slumped back on the pillow and he fell back to sleep quickly.  
Within a week, he was walking home again.  
Supported by Gamma, the two made their way up the elevator and slowly arrived back to his quarters.  
Though mobile, moving still hurt. He'd been given medication that should heal him fully within two more weeks, but that meant no work until then, the last mission of Project Earth had been put on hold.  
The commander had been round once to check he was alright, and to make sure he didn't need to start searching for another vanguard to replace him in the team. Other than him, Zeta had had no other visitors besides Gamma, who was really a permanent resident. He had inquired about Delta, to hear the Sentinel had healed faster and had been discharged a day early, and according to the commander, Eta was also receiving treatment.  
The thought of another mission made him groan.  
"What's wrong?" Gamma asked.  
"Don't make me do it, not again," he laughed, "I can't take it any more with those people."  
"I was thinking about terminating your contract with them, but I thought I'd better consult you first," she admitted.  
"Terminating?"  
"I don't want you killed, at least, not by anyone else but me," she joked.  
"Very… nice," he grunted.  
"What happened?" she asked.  
He thought back, "We just fell apart again. Delta ran off, I went to save him. Mu tried to complete the hack on her own apparently, I don't know what happened to the others, but I know they failed, and had to come pick us up at the entrance. I've never seen so many Cerberus troopers in one place before. They had everything there, Phantoms, Dragoons, ATLAS mechs… it was carnage."  
"You really don't get along with these people?" she asked quietly.  
He shook his head, "I hate it. We're all too stubborn to give in. Including me. Once one starts, the others start, and I can't help myself."  
"Even Mu?"  
"Mu doesn't stay around long enough. Actually, it's generally me, Delta and Kappa who fight most. Delta's desperately trying to be a hero; and Kappa… I don't even know."  
"Now that I think of it, back on the cargo ship, Mu didn't actually seem so talkative then, not even to you," she observed.  
"I noticed that. As soon as we stepped up on that ship, and met all of you, she quietened down again," Zeta remembered.  
"You were both pretty beat up when we found you, I think you slept for most of the journey," Gamma said.  
He laughed, "You're probably right."  
"But there was one thing I did notice, and I haven't told you so far," Gamma paused, he nodded for her to carry on, "Whenever you and I were talking, she would watch you. From the shadows, in her corner, as we called it, she practically watched your every move."  
Zeta didn't know what to say, he hadn't noticed it at all. When they'd been put in with the other passengers, he'd first met Gamma, and they more or less became friends overnight. He'd also gotten himself acquainted with a few Drell who were on board.  
"Do you think she felt betrayed?" Gamma asked quietly.  
Zeta looked at her, and considered it, "She never once called me her 'friend', but I was the only person she spoke to. I guess it's possible. We got off on the next port, with a few others, and I remember her then looking at me, as if waiting to say something. I was too distracted, trying to get things sorted out."  
"You made me make you swear to buy yourself a proper sword when you got back here," Gamma laughed, "Which, I still can't believe you actually did. But Mu just sort of… disappeared, didn't she? And then when we got home, I hardly saw you because _you_ ran off to try and find her."  
"At least you knew I'd come back," Zeta replied, "I thought she'd gotten lost or something. She can take care of herself but… we _were_ friends in my opinion."  
"I don't blame you," Gamma said, "If you disappeared, I wouldn't stop searching."  
He smiled at her, then realised she couldn't see it because he was in his armour again. So he stumbled over to her and pulled her into his arms.  
"Those scars on your back, where did they come from?" she suddenly asked.  
He hesitated, feeling the scars pulling at his skin, "When we were on Noveria, we needed something to cook. We needed fire; the trouble was we had nothing to start one. We had all the equipment to keep one going, but we couldn't get a spark. Shields, when broken, make for great fire starters, it turns out. We took it in turns stabbing each other to get a fire going. It requires a little force to break a shield with a sharp sword, so sometimes, we slipped and ended up slicing through the suit itself. It wasn't a nice process, but it kept us warm. She's probably got a few too."  
"I see, they were all in the same area, so I just wondered," she replied.  
"How did you know about them?"  
"When you were in the medical wards, I watched them tend to your wounds. They had to get your armour off," she explained, "You have very white skin."  
"That's what living in a suit does to you. It's supposed to be climate controlled, but no tech can compare to actually being on Earth," he replied.  
He let her go and sat back down as his legs quickly began aching again.  
"I wonder how long they'll let me have till the next assignment," he pondered.  
"Enough time for you to train again I guess," She said, "Are you still going to go back?"  
"I have to. Delta _is_ trying, I can tell it, I'm the only one who realises it, I think. If we can just make it work, we have the skills and ability," he said.  
"It's a whole battle in itself," she suggested, "When they told me what had happened, I was in shock. I thought you were dead, seeing you like that. Your suit was scorched black, your body was limp… I don't want to go through that again."  
"You won't," he promised, "I'll make it work. We _can_ do this. We just have one more mission to go."

* * *

Post Mission 3

Zeta sat alone in his room contemplating the events of the day.  
More things had conspired than simply the mission. More worrying things too.  
He had never heard of Geth utilizing biotic powers before, and the thought was frightening.  
They weren't normal Geth, they were too tough for Geth, and the Sigma symbol had something to do with it.  
His trail of thought was broken by a quiet knock at the door.  
He jumped up, feeling the lightness in his step now he had healed, and he strolled over to the door, checking to find it was Gamma who waited beyond.  
"You never knock," he observed as the door opened.  
"I didn't know whether you'd just fallen asleep or not," she explained.  
"Never stopped you before," he joked.  
"Well… last mission and all, I didn't know how it had turned out," she said, "So?"  
"Project Earth's been called off," he said, "We're over before we even began."  
She looked at him questioningly, "But you hated it?"  
"I did," he sighed, "the first couple of missions were the worst I've ever done. As a team, we were a mess. Today though, we managed it and succeeded. We actually worked together somewhat, and although we were unpractised, I think we could do it again, but even better."  
"Did that Kappa finally give in?" Gamma asked.  
"I was waiting for the right moment, but yeah, I managed to convince him to try and work with us," Zeta said, "there's something else though."  
He handed her a lump of metal, one of the armoured plating the S-Geth had, it contained the Sigma symbol inscribed into it.  
Gamma quickly analysed it, "Platinum, 99% pure, old Greek letter Sigma. What is it?"  
"I took that from a Geth unit," he explained.  
"Geth?" she sounded alarmed.  
"There's more still, smell it."  
"Biotics," she said, "I'm not sure I follow."  
"Those aren't any of our biotics. The Geth were using it."  
"Impossible, Geth can't just develop biotic powers," she said, "You think it has something to do with the Sigma letter?"  
"From what I saw, they weren't natural biotics like my own, or Eta's, they were more… programmed biotics. But you know what it means?" Zeta asked.  
"Someone's trying to fuse metal and biotics, and give them to the Geth?" Gamma suggested.  
"I think so. Have a look at my sword," he handed her the sharp, still-shiny silver blade. She examined it and handed it back.  
"Platinum, 99% pure," she shook her head, "It took you a year to get that perfected."  
"They probably have tenfold the amount of people working on it, whoever it is. We have to assume they've already got the metal sorted, now they just need to fuse it," Zeta explained.  
"How do you do it?" Gamma asked.  
But he shook his head, "The less people who know that, the better. I'm the only person in this galaxy, I think, who knows. I intend to keep it that way."  
"You did it whilst you were with the Drell, right?"  
"Yes, during my training. I went primarily because I wanted to master melee combat after getting off of Noveria, but this was something I worked on during that time, adapting biotics to my fighting style. The Drell are masters of hand to hand combat," he explained, "Fusion doesn't just offer more ways to battle… it _enhances_ biotic powers."  
"Your little trick could be the start of a whole new weapons system," she finished.  
"Biotic attacks usually just add on to other effects, like warp rounds, but to actually enhance and use biotics with attacks, to achieve unity, isn't something that should be freely known about," he explained.  
"What have you gotten yourself into?" Gamma asked.  
"These S-Geth, as we call them, have to be stopped. I'm the only one who knows how close they are," he said.  
"Project Earth has been terminated though, are you suggesting you're going to go alone?" she asked.  
"The commander said he'd look into it. It wasn't perfect, now ASA know about the technology, but it's the only start we'll get. I may have to go fight them again," he replied.  
"What are you going to do?" she asked quietly.  
He could see she was worried. He was worried too, but he felt this was his responsibility.  
"Right now," he said, taking her hands, "I'm going to celebrate the fact that I'm not dead, I'm very much alive, and I'm not incapacitated, I'm going to wash off and then I'm going to sleep until morning with you in my arms."


	9. Noveria - Firebase White

Mission 4 – Noveria

The commander gave the six another look over, "I've spoken to the board of directors, I've read all your reports, and we agree these so called S-Geth are something not to be ignored. For that reason, we have called you back for one last mission."  
He dimmed the lights and a screen went up in front of them.  
"Intelligence has found a stronghold of the S-Geth, a 'base-of-operations' if you will. We sent a drone in to get some information for us; it hasn't returned. The information it set out to get is vital, and we want you to escort it to an upload location. We're not going in to destroy them yet, not until we know what we're dealing with, but your reputation shows you like to make a scene. Your operation is simple, acquire the drone _any_ way you can, we'll do the rest."  
"Do we know anything about this stronghold?" Kappa asked.  
"It used to be a Cerberus stronghold, got blown up five years ago. We thought it was untouched, but we were wrong. You're heading to Noveria; I believe two of you know that place quite well…"

* * *

"I can't believe we got another mission!" Delta remarked.  
They were on the ship, flying through the battering clouds and making their way to the landing zone. Noveria was cold, not even the heat on board the ship could keep them from shivering.  
"It looks different," Mu suddenly said through glances of breaks in the cloud.  
"You two have been here before then?" Kappa asked.  
Zeta nodded, he was shaking slightly more than everyone else, "Long time ago."  
Kappa nodded, "This is an S-Geth stronghold. We know how tough they are, everyone be on your guard at all times, communication will be key," he looked to Zeta, "We live off each other… or we die."  
The Vanguard nodded.  
"If we get this done, I'll buy the drinks," Delta laughed.

* * *

Only ten minutes later, Kappa sprinted behind Zeta, who flipped and sent a Biotic Slash forward, destroying the S-Geth shooting at them.  
Mu flashed into existence behind a rocket trooper and sliced it in half, whilst Eta crushed another with biotics. Delta was placed with his shield in front of Alpha, who tore into the oncoming horde with both his typhoons.  
"Zeta, one behind us!" Delta shouted.  
The Vanguard charged from one side to the other, knocking the S-Geth Hunter away. Delta removed his shield and incinerated it.  
Mu flipped over and crouched behind some crates, "Grenade, Kappa."  
He threw, and she sent off an electric slash, exploding them.  
"Nice," Kappa remarked.  
The drone moved forward, sliding slowly over the battlefield; it had a while to go yet to the upload location.  
"Eta, on your six," Zeta said. He sent another biotic slash from his sword as Eta loaded the three enemies with biotics, each one exploding.  
"Pyros coming in," Kappa shouted.  
"I'll distract them with the shield," Delta said.  
He jumped out and smashed his shield into the ground as Kappa threw a grenade into them.  
They focussed their fire on the shield, which quickly exploded out of Delta's arm.  
"Get back Delta, they'll burn you alive," Kappa warned.  
"Ice them," Mu said, "then incinerate, and then energy drain."  
Two simultaneous explosions ensued.  
"Why didn't I think of that?" Kappa said.  
"Drone's almost in the room, we should be able to jump behind the consoles for some cover," Zeta observed.  
There were two consoles, so they decided to split up.  
"It's a nice day at least," Zeta said, "Nicer than the last time I was here."  
Mu and Eta crouched with him, "See if you can get anything from these consoles, Mu."  
She loaded her omni-tool and started hacking the computer.  
"We have some breathing time, how's everyone doing?" Kappa asked.  
"Alpha's got plenty of ammo left," Delta said, "I'm fine."  
"We're fine," Zeta said, "Eta looks ready to blow up."  
She was surging with some sort of black Biotic power, "I-I'm under c-control."  
"I hope so," Kappa said, "I'm gonna take a look."  
He got out his sniper and placed it on the console; he saw nothing at first, "Seems clear."  
A sniper-shot echoed around the area; there was a pause.  
"Did you get it?" Zeta asked.  
"He's been hit!" Delta shouted suddenly.  
"Carry on, Mu," Zeta said, and teleported over to the other console, Eta following him.  
Delta sat against the desk looking at Kappa's fallen body, stunned.  
"Don't just sit there!" Zeta shouted, "We need medi-gel."  
Eta took hers out to hand to the vanguard, who was looking over Kappa's body to find where the bullet had hit him.  
"Head," Delta whispered.  
Sure enough, there was a hole in his helmet. The bullet had taken out his shields and sliced straight through.  
"H-he's dead," Eta said.  
"He can't be!" Delta cried, "We need him!"  
Zeta put the Engineer's body back on the ground, not believing what he was seeing.  
The drone moved forward into the room, edging slowly forward.  
"We have to leave him," Zeta said, "We have to carry on and finish this."  
"We can't do this! Not without Kappa, we need to be at full strength," Delta said.  
"There's no going back," Mu said from over the other side of the room, "They know what we're up to, this will be our only chance, else they'll destroy the drone."  
"Look at me, Delta," Zeta said, grabbing the Sentinel, "We _have_ to do this. We have to be extra careful, and work together more than any time before, but we can do this."  
The Sentinel looked at Kappa, and nodded slowly, "Back on the cargo ship, I lost people. I swore I'd never lose a comrade again."  
"This wasn't your fault. It couldn't be helped; the drone's getting there, so we have to move," Zeta said, "Have you got anything, Mu?"  
"Sigma's a research facility," she said.  
"We have to report back to ASA that we're a man down," Delta said.  
No one wanted to announce Kappa was dead, but it was Zeta who reported.  
"S-S-Geth," Eta suddenly said.  
The team jumped behind cover again. The drone moved very slowly, it was halfway through the room.  
"Can you make it travel faster?" Zeta asked Mu.  
"Not without deleting data off of it," she replied.  
"Then we're gonna be stuck here for a bit, I want as many high-powered explosions as you can muster," Zeta said, "Let's get through this and get out! The upload point's just outside this room!"  
Eta and Zeta started launching biotics out of the room, Mu sent off electric slashes, and Delta started incinerating. Alpha resumed his open fire.  
Rockets bombarded the doorway from the outside, a few managing to enter and explode all around them.  
"Shields down," Delta said, he ducked out of battle.  
One extra lack of fire allowed two almost invisible hunters to enter the room, heading for Alpha. Zeta teleported and slashed one with his sword, and started slicing the other. Before it could hurt Alpha, the vanguard had it on the floor, dead, however bullets shattered his shield and bought him to the ground.  
"Mu, get Zeta," Delta said, "Eta, keep the door covered."  
She exploded in all directions, and tendrils of black biotic smoke washed over her. They surrounded the door, causing anything to come in to be primed for an explosion, which she happily threw at them.  
Mu flashed invisible and pulled Zeta's body to one side, helping him up.  
"You're not dying too," she said to him.  
"Thanks," he breathed, "Where's the drone?"  
"Just past Delta; three feet from the door."  
"Any cover outside?" he asked.  
"There are a few ledges we could use, a small crate. It's open both ends though."  
"Could really use a grenade right now," Delta remarked.  
"Don't start thinking like that," Zeta replied.  
Eta was burning brighter than ever before. The Biotics were clearly having a strain on her.  
"Eta, calm down," Mu said.  
The Adept didn't seem to hear, she just continued throwing as much as she could.  
They didn't notice the stairway at the other end of the room, from which two S-Geth Primes walked out from.  
The blasts shattered Zeta's, Mu's and Eta's shields, and they fell to the ground like rocks.  
"Primes," Zeta said.  
"How many?" Delta replied. From his and Alpha's position, they couldn't see.  
"Two," Mu said.  
"Rocket them?"  
"We can stop them, save your rockets for the way out," Zeta said, "I've got a cryo-upgrade on my gun; if I shoot them, Mu can detonate them. Eta, you can explode them with biotics anyway can't you?"  
"Y-yes," she sent out a dark cloud of biotic smoke to them which began to eat through their armour.  
Alpha and Delta covered the entrance they had come in from. Outside there were large groups of S-Geth rocket troopers and normal troopers, but they weren't causing too much hassle.  
The first Prime's shields went down, but the team were tiring. The drone had just reached the doorway.  
"We can get outside now," Zeta said through firing.  
"Delta and Alpha go first, we can get out easily," Mu suggested.  
"Come on, big guy," Delta said to Alpha.  
They carefully made their way out of cover, attempting to dodge the flurry of rockets that cascaded into the room from the previous doorway. Delta launched his shield into the ground as Alpha moved outside. When it was clear, Delta quickly retracted the omni-tool and rolled outside.  
All of a sudden the ground shook enormously, they were toppled to the ground.  
"What was that?" Delta asked once the facility had stopped shaking.  
"Felt like a meteor strike," Zeta replied.  
"Something's landed where we came in," Mu said.  
"Could it be reinforcements?" Delta suggested.  
"I don't want to wait to find out," Zeta said, "Get outside."  
The two found suitable cover outside, and Zeta teleported through the wall, reappearing in front of Delta.  
Mu suddenly appeared out from her tactical cloak, "Eta's gone the opposite way, she's taking out the Primes."  
"You're joking?" Zeta said.  
They looked in and saw Eta smashing the large robots; they could feel the heat of the biotics from where they were stood. Explosions shook the walls of the facility, and the Primes faltered.  
"She's actually doing it!" Delta observed.  
"Probably needed us out of the way," Mu said.  
"She's burning up though, look at her," Zeta said.  
From Eta's suit came lines of bright lights, long streaks seeping out from her very skin. The room filled up around her with S-Geth troopers, each one shooting, but each bullet being deflected by some biotic force.  
Zeta got out his sword, ready to send in a Biotic Slash that would explode the entire room.  
"You'll kill her," Mu said, placing her hand on his.  
"She can't fight off that many!" Zeta said.  
Suddenly, the wall to Eta's right blew up, sending the Adept flying into the opposing wall. From the hole came the largest S-Geth they had ever seen. Pure black in armour, with pointed features much like Alpha's suit, it looked like nothing they had ever seen before, not even the large S-Geth from the last mission could stand as tall as this one did.  
"I guess we know what landed now," Delta said.  
As Eta began her assault again, it quickly grabbed her body in one large metal hand, and crushed her with little effort.  
Delta, Zeta, Mu and Alpha stood and stared, the world around them became nothing but a blur, their eyes focussed on one thing only.  
Eta's body, still flashing and glowing, fell to the ground. A slow, painful act that lasted longer than it should have, as if gravity wanted them to endure it. The room had become filled with black tendrils of her biotics, undisturbed as her body fell through them. Her head cracked against the ground, and the entire room, with everything inside of it exploded in a massive biotic rampage that swept through the S-Geth, burning them alive, their armour liquefying, their circuitry frying; each one exploding as the biotic wave lashed not around or over them, but through them.  
"Duck!" Delta roared as the blast swept over them. He placed his shield up, but it was instantly rocketed away as the explosion reached them. His arm shattered as he fell, a scream of pain erupting from his helmet.  
Each of their shields shattered, their suits burning, they lay dazed on the ground, lucky to be alive.  
Noises came from overhead, as long streaks of fire fell through the sky, heralding the arrival of more S-Geth, much like the large black one that still stood over Eta's body, wreathed in biotics, but still alive. As each one landed, the ground shook, the facility rattled, and the team knew their chances of escape were diminishing fast.  
But there was still hope, the drone was almost there.  
"It's like some… S-Geth Destroyer," Delta breathed, his voice now tarnished and ripped.  
"If it survived that blast, we can't kill it," Mu said quietly.  
They struggled to their knees with great difficulty. Eta's explosion had almost ripped through their bodies. They were burned and bloodied; and there were S-Geth rounding the corner.  
Delta and Alpha sat a little away from Mu and Zeta.  
Delta launched his missile into the large black S-Geth, but still it did not die.  
"…Too strong," he breathed, he was failing, blood flowing freely from his suit.  
"Stay with us Delta!" Zeta shouted as best he could, he had a gash across his chest from which blood was seeping.  
"Would have thought ASA had given us more missiles," Delta said, "I can't get up. It's over."  
Zeta and Mu were suddenly felt themselves being picked up by the standing body of Alpha, he threw them into the upload location, and then threw Delta on top of them.  
He fell to his knees again, obviously wounded, and looked at them, pointing to the mass of S-Geth on their right.  
"We'll rocket them," Zeta said.  
The Soldier looked at them and nodded, he grabbed Zeta and pulled the vanguard close to his helmet, the black tinge giving nothing away of what lay beneath, and then, in a very mechanical voice, said, "Run."  
Before they could reply, Alpha pushed himself up and ran off to fight the S-Geth Destroyer. They saw him jump into it and tackle it to the ground, a metallic crash echoing around the room; they rolled away out of sight.  
Zeta and Mu aimed their missiles at the horde of S-Geth in the distance, only infantry, where the other destroyers had gone they couldn't guess, maybe they were on their way, but they fired both rockets and cleared the area.

* * *

A small click sounded behind them as the drone finally finished its journey and began uploading.  
Mu suddenly laughed quietly and tapped Delta's shoulder as he was sprawled over them, not moving, "Hey Delta, we did it," she said.  
The Sentinel, lying over Zeta's legs, suddenly looked around, as if he couldn't see.  
"Zeta, Mu… I think I figured it out," he said, very quietly.  
"Figured out what?" Zeta asked; his voice also weak. His gashed chest rose up and down painfully as more blood fell from his body.  
"I did some researching. Sigma… was the one who created Alpha, I think. It's a research company. They hid him at a biotic reactor, Eta guarded him, and she blew up the facility, but made it out. I had to retrieve him and protect him from Cerberus hands. The cargo ship… it came to Noveria to pick up… two lost people," he paused, breathing heavily, "That was you two… Kappa… he must have been the protection… that wasn't there… when I arrived. I saved Alpha… from Sigma. Sigma… they must have changed… to Geth."  
The Sentinel started laughing quietly, though it sounded more like coughing, "I saved you both."  
Zeta paused and nodded, "Yeah, you did good."  
"I saved… the galaxy… from Alpha," Delta said, "Hey… Zeta… Mu?"  
"…Yeah?" Zeta choked as a cry reverberated through him, he shook all over, enamoured by Delta's persistence.  
But there was a long pause, "Don't fight anymore. Stay with me."

* * *

They sat for ten, undisturbed minutes. Noveria was quiet. The S-Geth were elsewhere, out of sight. They had no idea what had become of Alpha; there were no noises of fighting anymore. Snow fell from the clouded sky, the rain of meteors had ceased. Through gaps in the clouds, Zeta could faintly see the stars beyond, the freedom of space, calling out to him.  
Delta's head slowly rolled away, and Zeta gave out a long sigh, he didn't know how much blood he'd lost, but could feel the effects.  
"Mu," he started, "I'm so sorry for what I did to you."  
The Infiltrator lay slumped on the railings. She looked battered and bruised, her white suit stained with smoke and blood. She slowly looked at him, the silence stretching on between them, "I'm not mad. Not anymore; it was my own doing."  
Zeta looked up at the sky again, his helmet slowly coating with the gentle snowfall, "We're right back where we started."  
She sighed, "Do you think we'll get off this time?"  
He coughed, "No time for an evacuation; we just won't make it."  
"We have to tell them about the Destroyers, the drone wouldn't have made any record of them," Mu said.  
"There's only one way out," Zeta said.  
Bleeding badly, they moved stiffly to look over the edge, to the snowy mountains below.  
He held her hand, and slipped Delta off him. The Sentinel gently gave way; he had gone to join the others, wherever they'd gone.  
"We'll tell the world, Delta," he promised their fallen friend, "You'll be the hero you always wanted to be."  
Mu looked him in the eye, holding his gaze; they both took a deep breath.

And then they fell.


	10. Epilogue

Epilogue

Gamma sat in ASA's research facility when the email came through.  
The Quarian had to read through it three times before she fully comprehended what it said. Her head slowly fell to the desk, and she let out a cry.  
Project Earth had been defeated. Zeta was dead. They all were.  
Somehow these Sigma-Geth had defeated the best team of human operatives; it was a thought with enough implications to make Gamma shudder.  
ASA wouldn't let it go, not now their best had been taken down. They'd wage war on whatever this Sigma was.  
Gamma felt the same way. On the email was a summoning to meet with the Commander of Project Earth. She doubted she'd be the only one there; the others had to have had friends and family. She quickly calmed herself down and packed away her things. Storing most of what she'd found out on her omni-tool. After logging out, she left the centre and went straight to the meeting room.

* * *

"What's all this about?" asked Theta.  
The Asari had woken to the sound of the door ringing, outside stood a soldier in full armour.  
"Your presence is requested," said the figure.  
"By who?" she asked.  
"The Commander, I'm afraid he has some bad news, please follow me," he said, and began walking off.  
"Wait!" she called, "I'm not properly dressed yet!"  
"Five minutes, the meeting's about to start."  
Theta shut the door on him and hurriedly packed on her armour. It was early in the morning, too early. Something big had to have happened, ASA didn't just send out reps to retrieve people for meetings, and they never happened 'in five minutes'.  
She walked quickly outside and met up with the rep.  
"What's going on?" she asked.  
"All I can say is it holds galactic implications, and it involves your friend Eta," said the figure.  
Theta stopped, "Eta? How do you know that name?" It bought chills to hear it.  
"We know a lot more than you think we do, now please, follow me."  
"Eta's dead, she died five years ago," Theta said.  
The rep paused and turned to her, "Not quite."

* * *

Psi browsed through Delta's unfinished work.  
The Sentinel had left his room unlocked in a hurry and failed to secure everything. Luckily, Psi had been wandering and happened to come across the Sentinel's room. He'd gone inside and found nothing was stolen or abused, but Delta's research had him interested.  
It seemed Delta had been researching the biotic reactor he'd gotten Alpha from five years ago. He'd tracked down a few mission summaries from around that time, including his own. Psi looked through it and tried to see what Delta had been looking for. His friend had traced the passage of the Cargo ship used to retrieve Alpha through the galaxy, it had made two or three stops. He'd also been searching for a symbol that Psi couldn't recognise, but what Delta had been interested in, Psi could only guess.  
His omni-tool flashed, a message popping up on the holographic screen. Psi closed down the computer and secured the room on his way out.  
In the hallway, he opened the message.  
He muttered a curse under his breath, and bowed his head and said a short prayer.  
His eyes came back to focus, and with a quick, determined step, he began making his way to meet with The Commander.

* * *

Rho hadn't slept.  
He'd been at the bar, preparing for the return of Kappa. A news announcement had flashed up on the screen. Kappa had been declared dead. It was over just like that.  
The Salarian hadn't cried. He didn't feel as bothered as he probably should have. Kappa didn't keep anyone close, the guy had had no friends, only acquaintances; but Rho liked to think he was the closest person to the cold hard steel Engineer.  
He'd certainly been in a more melancholic mood since, however. The bar had quietened down after that. Everyone had left, but Rho had sat there for a little while longer, lost in thought.  
Now, the Salarian sat in his ship, going nowhere, just enjoying the darkness of space beyond the visor. He'd stayed there all night, not moving, not making a noise, and trying to figure out… _things_. For the first time in his life, Rho couldn't think clearly.  
The flash of his omni-tool distracted him from his cloudy thoughts.  
A meeting. It was a further three hours after the announcement of Kappa's death, Rho had heard no more reports about what had happened to the rest of the Team. Maybe they were heading back now, bringing Kappa's body. He decided he'd better go.  
It was four in the morning, ASA headquarters would be quiet.

* * *

Iota sat looking over his notes on Eta's condition when the news came in. Five years of hard work and new theories had just died. Private medical work was hard to come by on ASA; his best client had just left him.  
He sighed, "Why couldn't you just live a little longer Eta?"  
He had been summoned to a meeting with the Commander.  
"To hell with that," he said.  
His best option now was to leave ASA. There would be no more work here for him; he had to move elsewhere, further afield.  
They must have discovered he was treating an unregistered patient. Eta was a special case, surviving an explosion that should have ripped her body to pure atomic nuclei. He had kept her quiet, if he could discover how she'd done it, he could utilize the ability. It'd secure his retirement plan.  
The Turian doctor loaded all he could on his omni-tool, and wiped the rest.  
He locked his office door and walked to the transport bay. He had no ship of his own, so he'd have to keep his head down.  
Iota left the security of ASA, and went into the galaxy of chaos and turmoil. His first stop would be the biotic reactor Eta exploded. Maybe he could find some clues there.

* * *

Four people sat patiently awaiting the arrival of the Commander.  
"Does anyone know what's going on?" Theta asked, breaking the silence. She knew none of the others sat in the room. They were all sat strangely quiet, so she guessed they didn't know each other either.  
"What'd they tell you?" asked the Quarian; to Theta she seemed strangely familiar.  
Theta paused, "That someone I thought's been dead for five years is actually probably alive."  
"Alive?" asked the Salarian.  
The door opened before she could reply, and an elderly man wearing ASA uniform walked in.  
"Greetings," he said, his voice crisp, "I believe you all know why you are here, except for you Theta?"  
She nodded, looking at the others.  
"I'll explain everything in a minute, for the rest of you; I thought it would only be right if I gave you a first account on the events that occurred tonight."  
The Quarian shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and the Salarian looked like he was thinking hard. The Drell had his head bowed.  
"I'll start from the beginning for Theta's sake," the Commander said, "five months ago; ASA funded a new project called Project Earth. We assembled the best human operatives on our records into one team; people who had survived exceptional circumstances and performed exceptional feats. We had six operatives, one of them was your friend Eta."  
Theta gasped, "She survived?"  
"She did, but no one knows how. She's been being tended to by a Doctor in ASA, he was supposed to be here, but it looks like he's left the station. Somehow Eta blew up the biotic facility and managed to get out barely alive. She was mutilated head to foot, and it fried parts of her mind, she was never the same since."  
"You didn't think to tell me?" Theta asked.  
"We didn't know you had a connection until quite recently. Project Earth was signed on for three missions. After failing two and succeeding in the last, we terminated the programme, however, circumstances changed. They were sent to plant data transmitters into a Cerberus stronghold, whom we believed was our only main threat. Things changed rapidly. According to the team's reports, Cerberus had been cleared out and in their stead were what we are now calling Sigma-Geth. These are not normal Geth, it appears they have some control and usage of biotic powers; you can probably imagine what repercussion that held. Following on from their reports, ASA tracked down an S-Geth stronghold on the planet Noveria. We sent a drone in there to pick up some information, but it was knocked out. I persuaded the board of directors to assemble the team one last time to send them in and retrieve it," he paused, "They succeeded; they got the drone to the upload point, but none made it out. At 3:03am we got a distress call from our Vanguard saying their Engineer had been terminated. This was the only death they registered. It went quiet after that. Our communications were knocked out, evacuation was never called for. The team never made it off."  
The Quarian was silently crying to herself, the Drell hadn't moved, and the Salarian looked more lost in thought.  
Theta didn't know what to think, if she'd have known Eta was alive, it would have affected her more, but now, it appeared the woman had died twice.  
"We received vital information on the S-Geth, information that we can use to help us secure ourselves against any threat they hold. Your friends did not die in vain, I promise that to you now."  
"May I see the information?" the Quarian asked.  
The Commander hesitated, "It's confidential, and is being looked over at this moment by our finest Engineers. We're using every byte we've gotten, and will look over every scrap twice just to make sure."  
"You only bought us here to tell us what happened?" the Salarian asked.  
"Right now, there's nothing we can do but purge through our findings. To give you more closure, we're holding a small ceremony in three days," the Commander said, "You're all welcome to give speeches."  
"Is there nothing we can do?" the Quarian asked.  
"I'm sorry, this overcame our best; we have to be extra scrupulous about this. If you have a hard time, there's help available in ASA for you," the Commander folded his sheets up, passed each one the notes of their friends and left them alone.  
"I feel like we've missed something," the Quarian suddenly said.  
"Like what?" Theta asked.  
"They faced the S-Geth before, something had to have been different tonight. Something's just not right."  
"Could have been anything," the Salarian said, "Larger numbers, improved units, team stress, many factors."  
"What do you propose we do about it?" the Drell asked, it was the first time he'd spoken.  
"I don't want to just sit here and accept defeat. Maybe they're all dead, maybe they're not. My friend, Zeta, the Vanguard, told me some things about these S-Geth, I think I have enough to go on for an investigation," the Quarian said.  
"Have you researched possibilities? Formulated theories?" the Salarian asked.  
"Wait, are you suggesting you're going to go looking?" Theta asked.  
The Quarian nodded, "It'll be hard on my own; I could really use a team."  
"You want us to defy ASA regulations and go wandering into unknown territory to look for speculation?" the Drell asked.  
"I want the truth. I don't think ASA have it. Something about this Sigma unsettles me. I think we're in as good a position as they are to look into it. Except we'll be less easily found," the Quarian argued, "I don't want to just sit and accept my closest friend is dead because he couldn't take out a couple of Geth units."  
"Interesting idea," the Salarian said, "Do you have the means?"  
The Quarian shook her head, "All I've got is tech skills. I could really do with your help."  
"I didn't know anything about this until fifteen minutes ago," Theta said.  
"Regardless, it involves you. I'm not forcing anyone into this, but, the offer's there," the Quarian finished.  
"I for one am also not satisfied. I'm also interested to see these S-Geth for myself, I've been suffocating here on ASA HQ, I'm in," said the Drell, "Delta was my best friend, and I believe he was onto something. I will avenge him."  
"You can't go skating across the galaxy without means of transport," the Salarian exclaimed, "Luckily for you, I have transport. No one kills a human like Kappa without putting up a good fight."  
They looked at Theta.  
"We could really use an adept," the Quarian said.  
Theta considered her proposal, "I'd like to know just how Eta got out and got into this, count me in. If she can survive an explosion, but die at the hands of Geth, then they've got to mean business."  
"Six is usually a good strength for a team," the Salarian said, "Five at least to run my ship."  
"We'd best get recruiting then," the Quarian finished.

* * *

The Commander listened in, it was happening just liked he expected.  
He turned to face his assistant, Tau, who had escorted Theta to the meeting.  
"Keep them off record, make no contact with them, keep your distance, but follow them. They will come in useful for defeating these S-Geth, I'll need someone on the inside to keep tabs on things," the Commander said.  
"I think we both know who that's going to be," Tau said.  
The Commander smiled, "Call in the Batarian."

* * *

Omega snuck a quick glance over his shoulder at the four people emerging from the Commander's office. He was positioned at a bar, somewhere quiet, and the bug he'd left in the room had revealed everything to him.  
He was a human Vanguard, just what they would be looking for. The Boss had been right after all.  
He stood up and followed them from a distance, planning how he'd infiltrate the team. He'd have to wait till they decided how to get people to join. The boss could get him into anywhere though, he had no worries.  
His golden helmet shone under ASA light as he manoeuvred through people, yet no one seemed to notice the small symbol engraved into the back of it:

Σ


End file.
